Light It Up
by SuperNerdDoesStuff
Summary: Blaze has been topside for the better part of a year, keeping out of Crowley's grasp. When the Winchesters found her under a pile of rubble from an accident she caused, they decided to take her in. But now she's running for her life, and better yet, the lives of her brothers. Can love make her stay in one place?
1. I'm on Fire

I opened my eyes violently as a light shined directly on me. My arms were tied above my head and my legs were pinned down. My chest and ribs hurt, but I fought against my bonds, trying to blink away the tears from the bright light.

"I'm so glad you're awake. I'd hate to see you sleep through this." A man's voice said from somewhere above me.

I tried to turn my head, but I couldn't. It was latched in place by invisible bonds. The light was blinding me and I realized I was on some kind of examination table.

A skinny man with a bald head came into view with a wicked smile. "I'd tell you this won't hurt a bit, but really, that'd be counterproductive to my end goal." He said, slowly lowering the scalpel to slice into my chest.

I screamed at the sudden pain, having no way to move away from it. But as I blinked, I wasn't laying strapped to a table anymore; I was sitting bolt upright in bed. A light flickered out of the corner of my eye and I threw myself off the bed towards the fire that started on the curtains. I grabbed my jacket and smothered the small fire quickly as there was a knock on my door.

Looking through the peephole to see who it was, I opened the door. "You alright?" Dean asked, looking worried.

"Yeah. Nightmares. Why did you let me fall asleep?" I asked, looking between Sam and Dean.

"Because we're awesome." Dean said, moving past me to make sure there wasn't anything in the room.

"You ok?" Sam asked, looking concerned.

"Not my first fire, gigantor." I told him, turning back to the room.

"Well, get some sleep. We're headin' out first thing." Dean told me, moving past me out of the room.

"Sleep." I chuckled to myself as they closed the door. "Sleep got me into this mess."

* * *

It had been two in the morning when the fire woke me from my sleep. I was too scared to go back to sleep. So I sat at the little desk the room provided and wrote about anything that came to mind. Sometimes I made up stories; sometimes I wrote like it was my journal.

I watched the clock tick by. Two, three, four, five… At seven, there was a knock on the door, to which I answered after checking the peephole.

"You get any sleep?" Dean asked.

I gave him a tired smile. "One fire is enough for a week."

He shook his head. "You got your crap together? Sam thinks he's got a lead on a vamp nest in Oregon."

I nodded, picking up my duffle bag that'd been packed since nearly three this morning. I slid my notebook and pen into the open pocket before zipping it up.

"You look like crap." Dean commented.

"I love you too." I told him, throwing my bag into the back seat. I propped it up like a pillow and laid out sideways across the seat.

"Didn't get any more sleep I see." Sam said from the passenger seat.

"Nah. I give it another seventy-two hours before I lose my shit." I told him, resting my eyes and I pulled my sunglasses down.

"Three days is a long time to go without sleep." Sam said, sounding worried.

"Just do your geek thing and tell me when I need to torch some son's a bitches." I told him, as Dean climbed into the driver's seat and baby purred to life.

Sam didn't like talking about the fact I could randomly light things on fire and I didn't like talking about the fact he was awkward around me because of it. Dean just shrugged it off. He was a lot more lax after he got out of Purgatory. I mean, his best friend was a vampire.

I looked out the window across from me, watching the trees slide by. We'd been in Wyoming for a week, chasing a hive of face eating monster freaks. I couldn't remember what Dean kept calling them, but I really didn't care. They said light it up, so light it up I did.

Watching the trees pass made me sleepy, so I turned my attention to the road in front of us, to my left. Falling asleep in the motel room was an accident I came across every three or four days when my body finally just shut down on me for a few hours. But I never fell asleep while we were driving. Dean and Sam had managed to save me from being tortured to death; the least I could do was not light their home on fire.

I pulled out my notebook and wrote to keep myself busy.

"How's the story coming?" Sam asked, referring to the story I'd made up about vampires and humans living peacefully in a futuristic world with hover boards.

I shrugged. "I don't know if Damon should be the good guy, pretending to be the bad guy, or actually be the bad guy."

Sam thought about it for a minute while Bad Moon Rising floated through the cab of the car. "What if he's the bad guy, pretending to be the good guy?"

I tapped my pencil against the paper for a minute. "Hey, ya know. That could work." I said, flipping through pages until I got to where I'd outlined the major plot points. "Damon equals bad guy, pretending to be good guy." I said out loud as I wrote.

"Still writing vampire smut?" Dean asked with a smirk as he glanced at me in the rear view mirror.

"Still banging the chick with the third nipple?" I asked passively. Dean tried to rile me, but I'd long ago found a way for most of it to roll off my back. If it stuck and I got mad, the windows in the car might burst or the leather would catch ablaze.

"Hey!" He said, sounding genuinely offended. "She did not have a third nipple. It was a mole."

"Dean. She knows the manager by name at the pay by the hour motel. That's scary, no matter what part of the country you're in." I told him as my pencil swept across the paper of my notebook. "Can we stop at a craft store when you see one? I almost need a new notebook."

Dean made no comment that'd he'd heard me, but I knew he'd stop because I'd asked.

* * *

A day and a half worth of driving later, we were parked in front of a ratty looking motel just like the one we'd left behind in Wyoming. I sat on the bed farthest from the door and felt like sleep was trying to catch me. I'd only been awake for two days, I could take another day or so.

"How are you?" Sam asked, watching me carefully.

"I'm awesome." I said with a smile.

He shook his head with a smile. It was the only way we could deal with this thing of a life I had; we'd smile and shake it off. Because I knew if we didn't, we'd all start crying. Or at the very least, I would.

"So word has it there's a nest of vamps outside the Portland area." Sam said, turning on his computer. Dean and I paused; we were on the other side of the state from Portland.

"So why are we here?" Dean asked, looking confused.

"Because the nest is in Portland. But the master has a vacation house down the road ten miles. He hasn't been seen in Portland in almost a week." Sam said, firing up his email. He was a sly dog.

Dean smiled. "You're good." Dean said, standing up. "I'm gonna get me and Blaze a room."

My head snapped in his direction. "What?"

I could feel the tension increase in the room. "Well I figure you and I can bunk together."

I shook my head. "No. Out of the question." I told him.

He looked confused. "Blaze, I'm not gonna hurt you."

I couldn't help it, I laughed out loud. Sam looked at me like I had a third head. "Dean, no. If I fall asleep, I'll light the room on fire and you'll die."

He looked at me like I was being stupid. "You're not gonna light the room on fire and I'm not gonna die." He turned and left the room.

I pulled my knees up to my chest, resting my chin on them.

"Hey." Sam said quietly, gently touching my arm. "It's gonna be ok."

I bit my lip, suddenly more worried than I had been earlier.

* * *

Dean fell asleep on the bed closest to the door. He moved around every once in a while, but I wrote until about one in the morning. He'd told me to wake him up if his phone didn't go off and like the genius he was, he had his phone on silent.

I walked over and gently touched his shoulder.

He jumped up, machete in hand, holding it out to me. I held my hands out in defense and he dropped the knife. "Sorry Blaze." He said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Your phone was on silent." I told him.

He nodded, picking up the device and checking the time. "You get any sleep?"

"No, because the place isn't on fire." I told him.

He grumbled, putting his head in his hands. I envied how he could fall asleep and stay asleep for six or eight hours and wake up gradually. I hadn't gotten a night with more than five hours of sleep in so long.

I went back to my bed; my packed things laid in a nice little pile against the wall closest to my bed. "I'm gonna go get us coffee and bagels."

Dean grunted in reply and moved towards the bathroom.

I picked his wallet up off the table and a keycard to get back into the room. I closed the door behind me and walked across the parking lot to the diner that said they were open twenty-four hours. I ordered three cups of black coffee and five bagels of different varieties.

The guy behind the counter handed me the cup tray and the bag of bagels with a smile. I blushed a little bit, but smiled back and headed out the door. I knocked on the door next to mine and Dean's room, where Sam slept, then unlocked my door and set the bag and tray on the desk.

"What'd ya get me?" Dean grumbled from his bed.

"An everything bagel and black coffee." I told him.

"You really do love me." He said with a smile and closed eyes as he tried to sit up on the bed. He snatched the coffee and bagel just as Sam knocked on the door frame and sat at the desk.

I said nothing, handing Sam his breakfast.

He smiled at me and it made me feel good. There were times I wasn't useful at all; times I'd just get in their way. But other times I could help out with the little things. "What'd you get you?" Sam asked around a mouthful of bagel.

"Cheese bagel and black coffee." I told him, sipping the dark liquid. I used to hate black coffee with a passion, but since my whole 'Midas with fire' thing happened, as Dean liked to call it, I'd taken to the dark flavored water.

We ate breakfast then loaded our crap in the car and headed out of town. The moon was gone, so everything outside of the car was laid out like a pitch black wasteland. Inside the car, everything in the front seat glowed from the dull red of the radio light. The car hummed along under us until we slowed down an old dirt road.

Dean stopped the car about half a mile from an old barn. We piled out and Dean handed out weapons like Christmas presents. I got the standard issue Beretta 92. It held ten rounds in the magazine and with the two extra mags I had for it, I was pretty much set.

Bullets wouldn't stop a vamp, but it'd sure as hell slow it down. Next, Dean handed us each a syringe of dead man's blood fresh from a graveyard in Wyoming. Dean closed the trunk and led the way, as we snuck up to the barn.

"Are you sure this is the place?" I whispered to Sam, getting a bad vibe from the building.

"Yeah." He said simply.

It wasn't that I didn't trust Sam; I trusted him with my life even though I didn't always like him. But this whole thing gave me a bad feeling. Dean cracked open the barn door and went in first. I took a breath and followed with Sam flanking me.

The whole barn was quiet except for the creaking noises it made when a breeze passed through it. I looked around, trying to find any sign that another human being was here, but I heard nothing. We slowly marched forward when I suddenly turned and ran head first into the biggest spider's web I'd ever seen.

I waved my arms wildly, trying to get it as far away from me a possible. But I paused, taking a glance at the wall above me. "Uh… guys?" I whispered loudly.

"What-" Dean started, but stopping, seeing the whole wall covered in spider web. He took a step forward to see that there was dozens of sections where eggs were laid.

"Sam. What the shit?" I asked, looking over at him.

"Hey. It's not my fault." He said, defensively.

"Sam. When was the last time you saw a vampire lay eggs in a spider web?" I tried to keep my voice down, but panic was starting to take me over.

"Shut up, both of you." Dean said sharply. "Sam, go around and see if there's any more."

I started moving down the wall until I heard a noise. It was a screeching sound and I reeled around, gun up and scanning. I heard a skittering and didn't even see it's leg until it knocked me on my back, throwing the Beretta out of my hand. I covered my head as I heard Sam and Dean let loose. Half the rounds bounced off the giant spider's chest while the other half of them just made it screech loudly. At this point, it decided to charge me.

"Blaze!" I heard Dean yell before the fear took me over.

The only image that flashed through my head was Sam and Dean being wrapped in a giant spider web like some Saturday morning cartoon. I threw up my hands to stop the spider's charge and the room flooded with light.

Suddenly, there were two pairs of hands on me, pulling me away from the burning wreck of hair and legs that had been a spider only seconds ago. As soon as I was standing, I threw them off, not totally sure what had just happened.

"What was that?" Dean asked, a little wide eyed.

I picked up my Beretta and checked the magazine, not entirely sure. "I don't know and I don't care. As many eggs as there are here, I don't want to see any more of them." I said. "Twenty bucks says I can get to the car before you guys."

"Deal." They both mumbled.

We grabbed our stuff and aimed for the car. When we got to the point of standing at the trunk, I turned to look at Sam. "Some vamp."

He rolled his eyes. "Not now." He told me, like he had better things to do then talk to me.

"Sam. Have you ever seen a giant spider like that?" I asked him.

He brushed past me to climb into the car.

"Just let it go, Blaze." Dean told me as he closed the trunk and got in the car.

I got in and propped myself up again. We cruised past the hotel we had paid for the night and out onto the open highway. We drove for nearly fifty miles before anyone said anything. "If you're gonna give me crap, what was with the bonfire side show?" Sam asked, turning in his seat to look at me.

"Excuse me? I thought we were going to die." I told him.

"Yeah, but you could've roasted us just as easy as the spider thing!" Sam said.

"Enough!" Dean yelled. "Enough. We'll figure it out. Blaze, are you ok?"

I felt like all my energy had been drained. "Yeah. We should stop and get some coffee." I told him.

* * *

Instead of stopping for coffee, we stopped and got another motel room on a fake credit card. Dean got a room for him and Sam and one for me. They went to sleep and I went to the coffee pot, added water, and the prepackaged coffee bags and hit the button. I flicked on the TV and flipped through channels until I found an old Western.

I watched it until the coffee was done. It was probably the weakest coffee I'd had in a month, but it did the trick, keeping my senses heightened ever so slightly. It was almost four in the morning when Sam's comment actually took root in my brain.

_"Yeah, but you could've roasted us just as easy as that spider thing!"_

I nearly dropped my coffee at the pain I felt in my chest. These guys that helped me recover when I was stuck in a psych ward after everything that happened with Crowley, these guys that saved me real on numerous occasions; I was putting them in danger by even being at the motel with them.

_What if I fell asleep?_

_What if I didn't wake up in enough time to catch the fire?_

_What if it spread to the whole motel and killed Sam and Dean?_

_Why did I have to be a freak among freaks?_

_Why couldn't I just be normal?_

My chest tightened and I grabbed my sides, forgetting the coffee on the bedside table. I doubled over and fell to the floor, feeling my upper body heat up.

_No. Keep it inside. Keep it together. Don't let it out. Don't hurt anyone._

I sucked in a breath and blew it out, seeing little sparks come off my breath. I repeated the process until the amount of sparks reduced and my chest cooled ever so slightly. I just laid on the floor, curled up into myself.

_Sam was right. I was going to get them killed. Or worse; be the thing that kills them._

Slowly, I pulled myself off the floor and found the bathroom sink. I ran the water as cold as it would go, not that it helped anymore. My temperature was still high enough to warm the cold water.

* * *

_"Hey Bobby." I told the old man as I walked over his salt covered threshold._

_"Blaze. Good to see ya." He greeted me and led the boys into his office. "You boys get the demon?"_

_"Bagged and tagged." Dean said with a smile._

_"Good, that's good." Bobby said._

_"We're gonna catch some z's before the next big bad ugly rears its head." Dean said, nodding to the upstairs._

_"Sure thing." Bobby told him as I took off my backpack and set it down._

_"How was your week, Bobby?" I asked._

_He shrugged. "Another day in hell." He said, before looking apologetic. _

_I smiled. "It's all good, Bobby. I understand a term of phrase."_

_He nodded, then glanced at me nervously._

_"What's wrong, Bobby?" I asked._

_"Heard of a place up around Washington state. They take in kids who need help with things." He said, obviously trying to be gentle._

_"Things?" I asked, looking over at him._

_"The nightmares, the fires. Hell, you took on more torture in the pit than most damned souls do. I'm surprised you're still holding it together this well." Bobby told me, but he said it like he was scared I was going to fall apart._

_"I'm alright, Bobby." I told him._

_He nodded, not believing me obviously. _

_"But if you give me the name of that place in Washington, I'll check it out." I told him, only to ease his nerves._

* * *

I pulled my wallet out of my pocket and found the scrap of paper he'd given me that day. I didn't know why I'd kept it, but it didn't matter. Sanctuary For All. Maybe I could stop running after this…


	2. And Here I Go Again

I knew I'd gotten at least a two hour head start on the boys; maybe three if I was lucky. I walked alongside the highway for almost fifteen miles before a trucker pulled over and asked if I wanted a lift. He was middle aged and reminded me a little of Bobby.

Although I was hesitant, I didn't want the guys catching up with me. And if I got off the road, there'd be no trail for them to follow. So I climbed on up. The motel we'd been at was near Vale, Oregon, right over the border. Bobby had mentioned that the Sanctuary was in a suburb of Olympia. If I remembered right, it was called something like Old City, but I couldn't be sure.

The truck driver said he'd take me as far as Portland as long as I had money to feed myself. I'd taken up Dean's habit of credit card scams, so I had three cards on me right now that would pay for myself for a while.

He asked me if I was in some kind of trouble.

"No. Why would you think that?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "We don't see many girls hitch hiking. It can be awful dangerous."

I kind of just smiled at his as the big truck rumbled on. "My now ex-boyfriend and I were road tripping and I found out he was cheating while we were home. He hit me and left me at a Gas and Go." I told him, coming up with a story out in thin air.

"What's in Olympia then?" He asked, carefully watching the road.

"I've got family there. I should be able to stay there until I can work up enough money to get home." I told him.

"And where's home?" He asked.

He was sure nosey for an old man. "Wyoming. The Pinedale area." I told him, as the guys and I had just came from that area only days before.

The trucker nodded. "I usually truck through the interstates. Makes it easier that way." He told me, instead of actually saying he had no idea where Pinedale was.

I nodded and we went on in silence.

* * *

By almost six in the evening, we pulled into a cheap motel, similar to the one I'd left that morning.

"Well, here's our stop." He told me.

"Thanks, Paul. I really appreciate it." And without another word, I grabbed my duffle and jumped out of the cab of the eighteen wheeler. I headed for the main office and checked into a room under my newest fake name, Julia King.

The old attendant held up my matching ID and looked me over. "Birthday?"

I faked a smile. "May 23rd, 1991."

"CVC on the back of the credit card?" She asked.

"082." I told her.

"A lot of kids come in here with fake IDs and fake credit cards. Can't be too careful." She said.

I smiled. "I understand completely." Thankfully, she handed me the room key and I went to unlock the room. "Home sweet home." I told myself, flipping on the TV to relax.

* * *

I got my crap together through the night and decided I needed food. I grabbed a bite from the waffle house across the parking lot and checked out of the room. Paul the Trucker was already gone, so I started my hike on the I-5 heading north. If the map at the back of the phonebook in the room was accurate, the I-5 North went straight into Olympia. From there, I could figure out where the hell I needed to be.

The walking wasn't bad. I had an MP3 player that Dean had 'borrowed' from an electronics store for me and had Sam load it with a bunch of different music. The worst part was the loneliness I hadn't felt in a long time. Even when the guys and I didn't talk in the car; we were still all there together. It bothered me that I didn't have that anymore.

_It's better this way._ I told myself. And it was. I had to worry about myself; not whether or not I'd catch my best friends on fire.

I'd been walking for almost three hours along the five when a car pulled over. There were three boys in the car and as much as I didn't want to be walking anymore; I didn't want to have to kill them more. I moved around the car, declining their offer of a ride. They followed along behind me and gave me shit for nearly half an hour until a State Patrol pulled up.

"These boys giving you trouble?" He asked.

"I told them I didn't want a ride and they won't just move along." I told him, gesturing pointlessly to their sports car.

"Boys, you best get on home before I give you each a ticket for harassment and public endangerment." He told them.

They ducked their heads and tucked their tails between their legs as they drove off.

"You shouldn't be out walking this stretch of road. It can get dangerous." The officer told me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I caught that drift."

"Where are you heading?" He asked.

"Olympia." I told him.

"I can drive you to Woodland. But I think it'd be best if you call some family or something to come get you." He told me.

I nodded. "I'd very much appreciate it." I told him. I put my duffle in the back seat and he moved the laptop console so I could climb in.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Julia." I told him, because it was the easiest to remember.

"Julia. Where are you from?" He asked.

I smiled at him as I buckled my seatbelt. "Am I being interrogated, officer?"

He smiled, making his eyes crinkle a little. "Just curious."

"Salt Lake City, since you're just curious." I told him, since that was actually the address on my ID.

He nodded. "Don't suppose I could look you up in the system. Just to make sure you're not a wanted criminal."

I smiled. "You want me to do it so you can drive?" I asked him and he smirked. So for the next fifteen minutes, I plugged my own fake details into his onboard computer to make him feel better.

"One unpaid parking ticket that my ex caused." I told him, turning the screen so that he could read it.

He smiled. "Just had to be sure."

I nodded.

We rode in silence until we passed the 'Welcome to Woodland, Washington' sign. We pulled into a gas station and I climbed out, going around the corner and pretending to be on the phone, still within view of the Patrolman.

"So?" He asked when I came back.

"My big brother's on his way. He says he's only half an hour out." I told him.

"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to stick around and…" He trailed off as his radio cackled to life about some robbery happening in the next town. He looked flustered. "If I come back and you're still here, you're getting it." He told me, before sliding into the car and speeding off.

I wasn't entirely sure what 'getting it' was, but as soon as he was out of sight, I tossed my duffle over my shoulder and started walking again.

* * *

I hitched a ride with another trucker, who dropped me just outside of Olympia. The sun was starting its decent and I briefly wondered if the guys were concerned for me. I thought the chances were slim, but I had been hanging around them for the better part of six months.

After a lot more discreet asking around then I would have liked, I found out where this Old City was. Ten miles and one hour and a half later, I was standing in front of a giant gated building in the dark. Nervously, I noticed the cameras trained on me as I stepped up to the call box. I pushed the button and held my breath.

"Yes?" A voice asked, sounding surprised.

"Um, hi. I'm looking for a Doctor Magnus." I spoke into the metal box.

"Who's asking?" The voice said and a sudden panic filled my chest, but I pushed it back down.

"I'd rather not talk about it in the open. I'm just looking for the Sanctuary." I told him, starting to wring out my hands.

"And what business do you have with the Sanctuary?" He asked.

I took another breath, trying to calm my fizzing nerves. "A friend told me that I could find help here. That you're a private research clinic with a very special skill set." I said, hoping I was being specific enough to be let in, but vague enough that if this was the wrong place, I wasn't giving anything up.

"And you need help?" He asked.

I swallowed and took a shaky breath. "Desperately."

"Alright. Follow the walkway up to the main door. I'll have someone meet you there." He said and there was a loud buzzing as the gates opened up.

I took a deep breath, hiking my duffle higher up on my shoulder. The courtyard wasn't all that big; I could clearly see the front door from the gate. My heart sped up the closer I got to the door and just before I reached for the door, it pulled open to reveal a rather attractive man in a black t-shirt.

He had short dark hair and the way he styled it made me think of a Mohawk. His bright blue eyes held curiosity and intrigue. And when he smiled at me, I couldn't help but return the gesture. "Hey. You're looking for Magnus?"

"Uh yes. I uh, I don't have an appointment or anything like that. I just heard from a friend that you take in, uh…" I stumbled over my words. "Special cases."

"Yeah, yeah sure. Come in." He told me, moving off to the side so I could step into the grand foyer. The foyer and main hallway made me think of an old English castle. "Uh, Doctor Magnus is actually out on a call right now. But Will was the one that buzzed you in. I'm Henry, by the way." He told me with a smile.

"Oh uh…" I said, thinking about it for a moment. "My friends call me Blaze."

"Blaze." He said, looking me over. "Blaze is a pretty name."

I ducked my head a little. "You said I could see this Will guy."

"Yeah, Doctor Zimmerman. He's like Magnus' assistant so he should be able to talk to you. Do you want me to take your bag?" He asked.

I smiled. "Thanks, but I've carried it since Oregon. I can pack it a couple hundred more yards."

"Oregon huh?" He asked.

I just nodded. I figured he'd ask if he wanted to know. Otherwise, I wasn't saying anything. So we walked in a silence as he led me through the manor and into an office of sorts.

"Doc, this is Blaze. Blaze, Doc Zimmerman." Henry said, gesturing to each of us as he talked.

"Thank you, Henry." He said, and I took in his appearance. Sandy blonde hair. Muscular build in a dark green long sleeve shirt and glasses. He was what I was sure most girls would consider attractive, but I just felt wary, standing on the other side of his desk.

"Henry says you're like Doctor Magnus' assistant." I said, still not moving closer to him.

"Yeah, you could say that. Why don't you have a seat?" He asked, gesturing to the chair in front of me.

I nodded, slowly moving to sit in the chair. I heard the door click after I saw Henry move out of my line of vision.

"You said from the call box you needed help?" He inquired.

I nodded, wringing my hands. "I don't know if you can help. I don't know if anybody can help me." I said, starting to feel the panic rise in my chest again.

"How about you tell me what's going on?" Will asked me.

I bit my lip. "You have to promise you're not going to commit me, or try to burn me at the stake." The last part just kind of fell out of my mouth. I was decently positive at this point I couldn't burn alive.

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you aware of what we do here, Blaze?"

"My friend, he said you take in freaks like me." I told him, ducking my head.

"Well I guess that would depend on your definition of a freak." He told me.

I nodded. I wanted to say it so badly. _Why wouldn't the words just come out of my mouth?_ "I light things on fire." I blurted out.

Another raised eyebrow. "Well, I'm sure that's just a phase." He told me and I hit my forehead.

No. God. I was sounding so stupid. Not finding any words to correctly describe my situation, I let a little bit of my panic ebb into my chest and I snapped my fingers, causing my forefinger to catch on fire.

Will jumped out of his chair and I stood quickly, not sure what kind of a reaction I had instated. "How can you do that?" He asked, sounding astonished.

"I just showed you." I told him, making sure the desk was between us.

"I've just never seen anything like that before." He told me and I knew the look he was giving me.

I'd spent the first eight months above ground in a mental hospital. I didn't need to go back there. I yanked my duffle off the floor and pulled open the door. I jogged down the hallway, hoping like hell I could remember the way back to that giant front entry way.

"Blaze?" Henry called from a doorway, making me stop and turn.

Henry had been so nice to me when I'd came in and I felt something towards him. But then I saw Will round the corner and I took off again. I got knocked over when a big furry wall stepped out in front of me. I landed hard on my butt and had my gun drawn before it took another step.

_For the love of God…_

"Holy shit. Holy shit." I said, crawling back away from it. This couldn't actually be Bigfoot in front of me, could it? No. There was no such thing.

_You hunt monsters for a living and there's no such thing as Bigfoot?_

"Whoa, whoa. Don't shoot!" Henry yelled and I briefly wondered if the silver bullets in my gun would do any harm.

The monster backed up from me, allowing me time to get on my feet, but my gun's aim never left it's chest.

"Hey. Hey. It's ok. He's a resident here." Henry told me, coming to stand next to me.

"A… a what?" I asked, out of breath.

"This is Bigfoot. He's a resident here at the Sanctuary." Henry told me.

"Bigfoot." I said, almost laughing. But then I stopped. If I could light things on fire, why couldn't Bigfoot be real? Slowly, I lowered my gun, keeping an eye on him.

"He won't hurt you." Will told me.

"You ok?" Henry asked and I saw the mountain of hair nod, still watching me the same way I watched it.

"Biggie, this is Blaze. Blaze, Biggie." Henry said.

"No offense, but there's no way in Hell I'm shaking your hand." I told him.

He nodded, before turning and walking away.

I watched it until it was out of sight and I still didn't want to put my gun away, but I flicked on the safety and returned it to my waistband.

"You always walk around with a gun?" Will asked, watching me closely.

"Yes." I told him, still watching the corner Bigfoot disappeared around.

"You run into trouble a lot?" He asked.

"You mean because I drew it and had the safety off before you could see what I did?" I asked, looking over at him.

He and Henry looked surprised.

"Hey, no offense doc. But I've spent more than my fair share around shrinks. I can read you almost as well as you can read me." I told him.

"Who are you?" Henry asked suddenly, both curious and wary.

"She has fire power." Will said, still watching me.

"Yeah, I got that. Beretta 92." Henry said and I was impressed.

"No. Henry, she literally has fire power." Will said, turning to him.

Henry looked confused. I swallowed the lump that had built up in my throat and I snapped my fingers, holding the flame up for him to see. He leaned a little closer and went to reach for it when I doused it internally.

"You can just put it out whenever you want?" Will asked.

I scratched the back of my neck. "Putting it out is a lot harder than starting it." I told him with a nervous look.

He nodded like he understood. "That's why you need help."

I nodded. "It's the worst when I fall asleep. I get these violent nightmares and when I wake up, there's a fire started on the curtains or the carpet."

"Have you ever slept in a temperature controlled room?" Henry asked, looking at me.

I blinked. I had only stayed in the cheapest motel in town when I traveled with the boys and the psych ward wasn't very accommodating. "Uh, no. No, I haven't."

"Well, it's a lot harder to start a fire in the snow than it is in the sun." Henry said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I could see that." I said.

"You want me to set her up?" Henry asked Will.

"Yeah. Set it pretty cool and write her into the logs." Will told him and after he nodded at me, Henry took off down the hall.

"I'm sure Doctor Magnus would like to talk to you when she gets back, but she not supposed to be in until tomorrow morning." Will told me.

"Is it alright if I spend the night then? I don't have anywhere else to go." I told him.

He smiled. "Well I didn't have a room set up for you so you could leave."

I shrugged. "You never know with some people." I said, feeling stupid.

"C'mon. I'll show you around a little." He told me. I picked up my duffle bag and we walked together down the hall. "None of the residents here are prisoners. It's important for you to know that. If you wanted, you could leave at any time." He told me.

I nodded as we passed an average looking man who smiled at me. But then as soon as his back was to me, he was calling names. I turned around and there, at the back of his head, was another face; much meaner and angrier looking then the front of him.

"But some residents stay here because they'd be hurt or killed in the outside world." Will continued.

I nodded. That made sense to me.

He showed me to his office, Doctor Magnus's office and to Henry's computer lab. I figured I could at least find these three things.

I was kind of let down when he showed me my room for the night, but I remembered normal people sleep every night. I shivered when I stepped over the threshold. I turned to Will in shock. "It's freezing in here." I said.

He kind of smiled. "It's seventy degrees."

"It's so cold." I told him.

"I'll have Henry raise the temperature a little, but it won't be anything close to what you're used to. Sleep well." Will told me, closing the door.

"Ain't no rest for the wicked." I mumbled to myself as I tossed my duffle on the bed.


	3. Big Fires Burn Bodies

It was pretty close to four in the morning when I got bored of writing. I tucked my pen and notebook back into my duffle and kicked the duffle under the bed. I hadn't unpacked any of my things because I hadn't seen the point. If I was only spending the night, it was pointless.

I walked over to the door and opened it, hearing few noises from the building. I closed the door behind me and just started walking; a few lefts and a few rights put me outside of Henry's computer lab. I ducked my head in and was surprised to find him tapping away at the keyboard.

He turned around like he'd heard me, despite the fact I was pretty sure I hadn't made any noise. "Hey." He said.

"Hey. Sorry. I didn't mean to bother you. I was just kind of wandering around aimlessly." I told him.

He smiled. "Yeah, I do that too. Not tired?" He asked.

"Ha, no. Sleep and I don't get along well." I told him, coming to sit in an empty chair near his desk.

"When was the last time you slept?" He asked.

Honestly, I had to think about it. "Three nights ago. I caught the motel curtains on fire." I told him.

He looked like he disapproved, but he didn't say anything. "Did the temperature not help?"

I laughed nervously. "Are you kidding? It was freezing in there." I said, trying to take some of the tension out of the conversation. "What are you doing?" I asked, nodding to his four computer screens.

"Oh, uh. I'm just coding a little bit." He told me.

"A little bit? It's on three of your four screens." I told him with a smile. Henry was apparently the modest kind of geek.

He shrugged. "It's only a little for me."

I nodded. "I never got computers. Or at least, I haven't in the last year." I told him, trying to read the code on one of the screens.

"Why only the last year?" He asked.

I redirected my attention to the hard wood floor, realizing my slip up. "Nothing." I told him.

After a minute of silence, I glanced up at him and he was watching me curiously.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I got this fire thing in Hell. And when I got top side, I couldn't remember who I was before that. Hell was all I could remember." I told him, picking out dirt from under my finger nails.

"Hell? Like… Hell?" He asked.

I kind of smirked. "Yeah, that one."

"No, but you were seriously down under and they let you come back?" He asked.

I made a face out of instinct. "They didn't exactly let me out. I caught a ride out."

Henry blinked. "You escaped Hell?"

"You make it sound so much more melodramatic than it is." I said quietly.

"No, but this is a big deal." He said, leaning to rest his elbows on his knees. I had his full attention apparently.

"Got put in a psych ward for it. I was there for eight months before I got rescued." I told him.

He nodded, apparently seeing that I didn't really want to talk about it. "Well, if anybody can help you, its Magnus." He told me with a smile.

I quirked my lips. "Yeah, well. I'm not holding my breath." I told him.

He nodded, understandingly. "I had doubts about what she could do too, but she does miracles with the abnormals."

I tilted my head a little. "Abnormals?"

He looked a little confused looking at me. "Yeah. That's what they're called. We're called." He said, gesturing between us.

"I didn't know. I just always called them monsters." I told him.

He looked like he was processing information. "Monsters." He said, like he hadn't thought about it that way. "You're a hunter."

I blinked. "A what?"

He shook his finger at me. "I knew it. You're a monster hunter." He told me with a smile.

"How could you possibly know that?" I asked me.

Henry just smiled. "I'm no shrink, but I can read people sometimes."

"That's good. I'd hate to call you the geek shrink." I told him with a smile.

He grinned like he liked the nickname. "Well, I've probably had worse."

I nodded, not sure what to say, but still wanting to talk to him.

"So why do they call you Blaze?" Henry asked.

I shrugged. "I didn't remember my real name when I got topside and the nurses at the hospital put me in as Jane Doe. So when the guys busted me out, Dean thought Blaze was as good as any."

"Who are the guys?" He asked.

"Oh, Sam and Dean. They were like my big brothers. Watched out for me, made sure I was doing ok." I told him, bringing my knees up to my chest to rest my chin on.

"Were?" Henry asked.

I gave him a sad smile. "I realized that as long as they were around me, there would be a point in time when I couldn't control the fire anymore and I'd kill everything close to me. So I put as much distance between us as I could."

He nodded slowly. "That's why you've been carrying your bag since Oregon."

I nodded. "We had a job right over the border from Idaho. Supposedly it was a vamp nest. That's what Sam told us. But our intel was all wrong. It was this giant ass spider thing. It attacked us and I fried it before I could even think about it."

Henry smiled. "Big spider thing, huh?" He asked, turning back to the only screen without code. "Like this?" He asked, typing and pulling up a picture.

"Just like that. How'd you know?" I asked.

"This is what Magnus and Ashley went after. It's called a Shelob. It's endangered." He told me.

"Hey. I was endangered when it freaking charged me." I told him.

He smirked. "I'm sure you were. There's got to be a giant nest there too, right?" he asked.

I nodded. "Hundreds of eggs." I told him, shivering from the thought of all those big spiders.

Henry nodded. "Well I've got to finish this code. You can hang out here if you don't want to go back to your room." He told me.

"The worst part of leaving the guys has been being alone." I told him thoughtfully. "So I'll stay here if its ok with you."

He nodded, turning back to his computer screen. I leaned back in the chair and observed the room. He had a big L shaped desk in the farthest corner from the door. The wall opposite the desk was filing cabinets and the wall the desk was against had bins that stored different parts and pieces. The short wall nearest the door held a bunch of guns.

"Do you miss being with Sam and Dean?" Henry asked and I turned to see him watching me.

I smiled. "Would you miss Will if he fell off the face of the Earth?"

Henry smirked. "I don't know. He can be kind of obnoxious." He joked, turning back to his computer.

"Yeah, I miss them." I told him. "The only family I can remember."

He nodded, like I made sense to him. "Magnus rescued me when I was little. I don't remember my parents at all."

"Don't tell me you built your first computer at age ten." I said, rolling my eyes.

"I was actually fourteen. They called me a late bloomer." He said with a smile as he typed away at the keyboard.

I shook my head. "I'm not good at anything except shooting."

"Is that right?" He asked.

I smiled. "Dean didn't want me to carry a gun, but Sam said I should have one. After the basic instruction, I took to it like a secret agent. I can even do this really cool thing where I spin it in the air, catch it, and shoot."

Henry smiled at his computer screen as he tapped away. "That's funny. I can barely hold one correctly."

I smiled. "But you also built your first computer when you were fourteen, where I can hardly use one."

He nodded as to say 'fair enough'.

"So you don't sleep?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "I ended up more nocturnal. I take a nap in the day once in a while. But I don't usually sleep long at night."

I nodded. "I'm gonna go find some coffee. You want some?"

Henry didn't reply for a short minute and I just sat there. "Actually, I'm done. I'll show you the kitchen." He said with a smile.

He stood up and we walked down the hall together. The building made a few noises here and there, but everything was pretty quiet. We walked into the kitchen and he hit a light switch. I found the coffee pot and automatically started making a pot.

When I turned back to him, he was watching me carefully. "What?" I asked.

He shook his head and looked out the dark window.

"No, you were thinking about something. What was it?" I asked.

Henry shrugged like it didn't matter.

"What kind are you?" I asked, looking over at him.

He turned to me, confused.

"You said abnormals like us, and you pointed to the both of us." I explained, gesturing the same way he had.

He nodded. "I would tell you, except you're a hunter."

I cocked an eyebrow. "The hunter thing is kind of over for right now. I'm staying the night in Monster Ville."

He shrugged, keeping his eyes downcast. "I've got to get back to my office. Check on the EM fields." He told me, ducking out of the room before I could say anything.

* * *

I got my cup of coffee and wandered back to my room. I wrote for another few hours until there was a knock at my door and I realized the sun had come up. I went to the door and opened it, slightly surprised to see Bigfoot standing there.

_Bigfoot… is a butler…?_

"Will wanted me to bring you breakfast." He said.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know you could talk." I said, standing off to the side so he could put the silver tray on the table. "I'm really sorry about yesterday. I didn't know you were friendly or anything. I just figured you were going to hurt me."

He looked at me for a moment and it unnerved me. "I won't hurt you as long as you don't hurt us."

I nodded. "I find that more than a fair arrangement."

He nodded and left the room, leaving me with a plate of breakfast.

I went over to the table and pulled the lid off. French toast, pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, and toast. "There's no way I could eat all that." I mumbled.

I polished off the French toast, sausage and bacon when there was a knock on my door. I stood up to answer it and saw Will standing there with a brunette lady who looked only a few years older than him.

"Hello. I'm Doctor Magnus. Will said you arrived last night." She said with a smile as she held out her hand.

"Uh, yeah. It's nice to meet you. I'm Blaze." I told her, gingerly shaking her hand.

She looked alarmed. "You have a temperature. We should get you to the infirmary right away."

"You didn't tell her?" I asked Will, who looked like he'd been thrown under the bus.

"I didn't think I had any business." He said.

"Tell me what?" Magnus asked.

I took a breath and slowly eased some of my ever constant panic into my chest, filling me with fire. I snapped my fingers and a little flame danced across my forefinger.

She stood there, looking bewildered. "That's marvelous. How long have you had this ability?"

"Um. A little more than a year." I told her, dousing the fire.

"This is a new development." She said, thinking. "Would it be alright if I gave you an evaluation? To get a better idea of your body chemistry?"

"Guess I don't have a choice." I said. At least they were more gracious than Crowley's men…

Magnus looked confused before glancing at Will and back to me. "Of course you do. I just think it'd help us understand your physiology better if we did some tests."

I nodded, not entirely sure if I believed her or not. Doctors were hard to trust sometimes. I shrugged, digging my hands into the front pockets of my jeans. "As long as you aren't shoving rods into my head or cutting me open, I'm all yours, doc."

Magnus and Will looked worried at my words. "Have you had either of that done to you?" Will asked.

I shrugged again, pulling up my bangs. I kept them long to hide the row of circle scars that formed a perfect line around my head; three of which could be seen on my forehead. I pulled down the collar of my t-shirt to show the marks that were made in my chest. "Torture is pretty potent stuff in Hell."

Magnus looked pained while Will just looked confused. "Yes, Crowley. We've been trying to keep tabs on him, but he moves much quicker than we'd previously thought."

I smirked to hide my worry. "Like I said, doc, I'm all yours."

"Are you finished with breakfast or would you like more time?" She asked.

"Oh no. I finished it. I apologized to the big guy for yesterday." I said, glancing at Will before I turned around and picked up my tray of half eaten food.

"I can take that for you." Will said.

"No, it's ok. I've got it." I told him as Magnus turned and led us down the hallways and into the kitchen.

"She's not talking about hell, hell right?" Will asked in front of me.

"I believe so, yes." Magnus said quietly.

We got to the kitchen and on autopilot; I washed all the dishes on my tray and set them in the drying rack.

"You're move around a lot." Will told me when I turned around. Him and Magnus just kind of stood there, watching me.

"Was that a question or a statement, doc?" I asked with a smile.

"Statement." He told me. "You've got two different kinds of mud on yours shoes. I can also tell that as much as you're glad to not be outside starting fires, you're scared of being here."

"If we're gonna play this game, Doc," I said, spitting out his title. "You can poke and prod me until your little heart's desire. But you're not getting in my head."

Will crossed his arms defensively while Magnus watched us. "Why not?"

I walked over to him and looked him hard in the eye. "Because you won't be able to handle it."

"I believe now would be a good time to start your evaluation, if it's alright with you of course." Magnus said.

"Whatever you say, doc." I told her, turning and following her down the hall.

She pulled open a door that said 'infirmary' and I was reminded of the nurses office at the mental hospital. "If you'll sit right here." She told me, gesturing to the steel examination table.

I turned, but the shiny steel didn't look like it was in this big clean room; it was in a tight stone room and it had shackles attached for my head, hands and feet. I backed away from the table; unable to move myself into sitting on it. "I-I c-can't." I said, still seeing the small stone room.

"Hey, hey. It's ok." Will said, blocking my view of the examination table.

I could feel my temperature rise and I forced it back down. "Sorry. Sorry. I just, uh… I can't be near that table." I told him.

Will and Magnus nodded.

I got to sit in a normal chair as Magnus took blood and skin samples. I barely felt the needle as it pierced my skin. "I appreciate you being so cooperative with us." Magnus told me as I just looked around the room.

"You can call me Blaze ya know." I told her.

She smiled. "Blaze doesn't seem like a real name in my view."

I shrugged. "It's what Dean called me when he found me." I told her.

"You don't know your real name?" Will asked.

"That part of my memory was killed off in the pit. I got top side with no family, no friends and I had nightmares to scare the devil. I wasn't exactly popular at dinner parties." I told him, examining the art work on the wall.

Magnus laughed and glanced at Will. "Seems that's a trait we've in common."

I said nothing as she took a skin scrape.

"Magnus, we've got a breach on the outer perimeter. It bounced right off the shields and no fluctuation in power, but thought you should know." Henry came into the room with a kind of tablet computer.

"Henry, have you met our newest guest? She likes to be called Blaze." Magnus said. "Henry is a technologic wizard."

"We met yesterday." Henry said with a smile, despite the conversation he left this morning. At least he didn't hold it against me.

"Right then." Magnus said, her arm grazing mine. She stopped and turned to me. "Now about that temperature."

"I'm on fire. Of course I have a temperature." I told her with a smile.

She shook her head, standing up and coming over to me with a thermometer. I put it under my tongue and pretended I didn't look like I was a little kid. It beeped and I handed it to the doc. Her eyes went wide. "One hundred and twelve point six."

"Internal organs melt at a hundred and eight, depending on the doctor you ask." I told the room.

"This changes things drastically. Henry, did you have our guest set up in the climate controlled rooms?" Magnus asked.

"Yeah, but she said she doesn't sleep. So I'm not sure it'll do us much good." Henry said with a shrug.

"What do you mean you don't sleep?" Magnus asked. Her tone implied she was under the impression this was part of my condition, which I suppose it was.

"Sleep causes nightmares. Nightmares cause fires." I told her.

"I see." She said, obviously thinking my situation over. "When was the last time you slept?"

I had to think about it again. What had I told Henry this morning? "Like, three days ago?" I said.

Magnus didn't look happy. "You've got to get some rest."

"As much as I appreciate your concern, doc; I'd hate to burn this lovely establishment to the ground." I told her.

"What's the biggest fire you've ever created?" She asked, as if daring me to prove her wrong and it bugged me that Henry and Will were in here. I didn't want them to be afraid of me.

"Do we have to, doc?" I asked, nervous about the situation I was thrown into.

"Or else I should have to give you a sedative." Magnus said.

I crossed my arms and took a breath. "Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital in Toledo, Ohio."

Henry tapped away at his tablet and I groaned inwardly. I didn't want them to actually read it, but I supposed they had to know. "The Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital was stuck by tragedy when the facility burned to the ground the evening of August 13th, 2013. Officials refuse to comment, but an anonymous tip says that it was a patient that started the fire." Henry read out loud.

"Despite the fact police are unaware of the cause of the burn, city officials have given the paper a count of seven dead bodies and twenty-eight injured staff and patients." Henry read.

"They sedated me because I wouldn't stop screaming. I was screaming to keep myself awake. Dean and Sam came in as FBI guys and made sure my Jane Doe name made the casualty list." I told them.

Henry typed away at the tablet and I wondered what he was doing. "Toledo police listed two Jane Does in the fire; one fits Blaze's description."

"You didn't have any ID or anything on you?" Will asked.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "I didn't wake up from a bender on the side of the street. My memory was drilled out. Crowley doesn't want me to remember, so I can't."

"But why? No offense, but what's so special about you?" Will asked.

"It's possible because of the fire power." Magnus said.

I shook my head. "If I was that important, he would've found me already."

"Or maybe he just wants to keep tabs on you." Henry suggested.

"Like what?" Will asked.

"Well, like maybe he didn't know he drilled out her memory. Maybe he was trying to get a hold of somebody she knew before hand." Henry said with a shrug.

"We won't be able to tell until we can find out who you are." Magnus told me. "Henry, will you take Blaze with you and upload her picture for facial recognition?"

"Sure thing doc." Henry said.

"Oh, and Blaze?" She asked and I turned to her. "Get some rest."

"Sleeping is one hundred percent out of the question. I've got at least another day before I crash and burn again and I'll take full advantage of it." I told her sternly.

"The body wasn't built to be awake constantly. You need sleep to reenergize yourself." She told me.

I shook my head. "That's why there's coffee."

Magnus made a face. "You people and black sludge."

I shrugged. "Believe me, you'll know when I fall asleep." I told her, taking Henry's elbow as I walked us out of the lab.


	4. Loose Lips Sink Ships and Leaders

"Dead set against sleeping, huh?" Henry asked as we walked into his lab.

"Absolutely. I run until I crash and burn and then do it all over again." I told him.

"Does it happen every time you sleep?" He asked, sitting at his desk as I sat in the chair I had earlier this morning.

"Every time. Even if I fall asleep for five minutes." I told him as he messed with some setting on his camera.

"Alright. Don't smile just sit there." He told me, holding the camera up.

I sat still and I heard the click before he set it down and plugged it into the computer.

"I'm sorry you have to struggle with this." Henry told me, watching the computer screen as he dragged things to another screen and tapped away.

I shrugged. "I like to think I'm dealing with it in my own kind of way."

He stopped typing and looked over at me. "Sometimes there's better ways of dealing."

"I'm most definitely open to suggestions." I told him.

He shrugged. "Maybe when your blood work comes back, we'll figure something out."

"We?" I asked with a little laugh. "You seem awfully committed to this."

Henry shrugged before looking at me. "You need to know there's options. You don't have to be sleep deprived for the rest of your life."

I nodded. "If there's another option, I will at least give it a try."

He nodded, turning back to his computer screen.

"So what are you doing with my picture?" I asked him, leaning closer.

"I'm running it against all the databases I have access to; the national DMV registry, FBI, CIA, NSA, Interpol." He told me.

"The whole alphabet soup." I commented.

"Pretty much. Just to see if we get a hit off of anything."

I nodded. "That makes sense. How long should it take?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. It could take an hour or it could take a couple days."

"Alright." I said and suddenly my cell phone rang. Cautiously, I pulled it out of my pocket. "Shit."

"What? Who is it?" Henry asked.

"Dean." I sighed. "Hello?" I asked, answering the phone. As long as I kept the conversation under a minute, I'd be ok.

"Where the hell are you?!" Dean's voice was so loud I had to pull the phone away from my ear.

"Well, hi there." I told him.

"Cut the crap. Where are you?" Dean asked and I could hear the car in the background. He must be driving fast.

"Dean. Calm down. There's no reason to be so-" I started.

"So what? So what Blaze? So royally pissed off?" He yelled and I cringed.

There was a shuffling sound and a grunt. "Blaze. Where are you?" Sam asked.

"I can't tell you, Sam. I ran away for a reason and you're going to have to accept that." I told him.

"Blaze. You can't be out there on your own." Sam told me.

"This has been a lovely chat, but your trace is about to lock on me so you guys have a great day." I told him, hanging up. The counter on the phone read forty-four seconds. Perfect timing.

"They seemed upset." Henry said.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure they are. Dean's a control freak." I told him. The phone rang again and I sighed.

"You want me to answer that? Pretend you've been kidnapped?" Henry smiled.

"Ha. As humorous as I think that would be, they'd probably kill you." I said, biting my lip. I clicked the button and held the phone up to my ear.

"You listen here. We were the ones that saved you from the crazy house. We saved your ass through all those hunts and you saved ours too. I think we deserve to know where the hell you are." Dean said.

"Dean. Calm down. I'm with a friend and I'm safe." I told him.

"You don't have friends!" He told me.

"Well, guess what? I do now. And you guys need to stay away from me. Alright?" I said.

"This isn't the way, Blaze." Dean told me.

"Dean, Sam was right. I'm just going to end up hurting you. And I can't do that." I said, before hanging up the phone. I sighed and dropped my head, running my hands through my hair.

"You know it's going to be ok, right?" Henry asked quietly.

I shook my head. "Every time I see a light at the end of the tunnel, it ends up being a train."

He smiled and nodded, like he understood. "Yeah, I've had a couple of those too."

We were silent for a few minutes. "If it's ok with you, I think I'm gonna go get a shower. Being on the road for a couple days has made me feel gross."

"Yeah sure." He said before I stood up and made my way back to my room.

I closed the door behind me and grabbed some clothes out of my duffle. I closed the bathroom door and turned on the water. It felt just barely Luke warm to me, but I stripped out of my clothes and stepped into the spray.

I concentrated on slowly rising my temperature until the water that hit my body turned into steam and felt warm to me. I washed the grease out of my hair and scrubbed the dirt off my skin. I even shaved with a disposable razor I'd found in the drawer.

I wrapped my hair in a towel and used the other to dry myself off before sliding on new clothes. It took me a minute to realize why the room was so warm when I realized I still had my temperature up. A brief moment of panic made the water in the room evaporate before I sucked in a breath, closed my eyes and tried to pull it back in.

The room slowly cooled and I opened the door into the bedroom so the room could cool even faster. I fell onto the tile, pulling my knees to my chest. I had barely noticed how warm it was and it scared me. I looked up, hearing a noise to see Henry leaning on the door frame and Magnus over his shoulder.

"The fire alarm went off." He said quietly.

I felt helpless. "I just wanted to warm the water a little. I just heated up to steam up the room and I forgot I heated up and I freaked out and that's why there's no water in the tub even though I just got out and…"

I stopped as Henry kneeled down next to me with a little bit of a smile. "Are you hurt?"

I shook my head.

"Did you hurt anybody else?"

I shook my head again.

"Then it's alright. So you singed a towel. Those can be replaced." He said, holding up the burnt towel I hadn't noticed.

I nodded. "I'm sorry. I thought I could control it enough for a freaking shower." I said, resting my forehead on my knees.

"Hey, it's alright. Nobody got hurt." Henry said, and I felt him sit down next to me.

I looked up at Magnus and then Henry and despite the heat I still felt in the room, my eyes watered. "I'm so scared."

Henry gave me a sad smile. "It's going to be ok. We'll figure this out. I'll be there the whole way." He told me.

I nodded, blinking away the tears before they spilled over.

"There is hope, Blaze." Magnus said with a smile.

I nodded, not really believing it, but needing something to hold onto.

"Let's get you off the floor." Henry said, standing up and helping me stand.

I pulled the towel off my head, but my hair had long been dry. I ran my fingers through it before hanging the towel back on the rack.

"I bet you're fun at parties." Henry said teasingly, trying to lighten the mood.

I couldn't help but smile. He was trying so hard to make this easier on me.

"Henry tells me your colleagues phoned you." Magnus said.

I blew out a breath and looked over at Henry. "You're not a very good secret keeper."

"Hey now. I am an excellent secret keeper when I know it's supposed to be a secret." He protested.

"Yeah, they called. I didn't tell them where I am." I told her.

"I believe that to be the problem. They're obviously worried about you and I think they need to be here to help you through this." Magnus said.

I shook my head. "No. They don't need to be here. They don't understand. That's why I left."

"Have you tried talking with them? I'm sure they can be reasonable." Magnus said.

I shook my head again. "If they knew this place existed, they'd burn it to the ground. I'm not stupid. I saw the fridge that said Mermaid Chow. I don't know what other creatures you have in here and honestly, I don't care. But they will. I've known them to kill things on a hell of a lot less." I told her, trying to get my point across.

She nodded. "If that's your decision." She told me.

I stood there for a moment. "I'm sorry for torching your endangered killer spider."

Magnus smiled. "We recovered quite a few eggs that are now in incubators. I believe we may revive the species." She said.

"Of course. Where would we be without monster offspring?" I said sarcastically.

Magnus looked at me and I knew she was trying to examine me. "I understand you come from a background of monster hunting most recently, but I hope you think of us as more than monster keepers."

I nodded. "Yeah, alright."

"And I still believe you should reconsider calling your friends." Magnus said in a very 'mom' voice.

"Magnus. I agreed to not call you guys monsters keepers. Just give me this one thing." I begged.

She didn't look happy, but she nodded and turned to leave. I felt tired all of the sudden. "Shit." I mumbled, feeling my knees give out.

Henry caught me before I fell. "Hey, whoa. Take it easy." He said.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled into his shoulder as he picked me up.

"About what?" He asked, looking confused as my eyelids felt like they weighed ten pounds.

"The fires." I murmured as he set me on the bed and my eyes fell closed.

* * *

I couldn't see anything clearly; just shapes and blurred images. Everything was tinged red or black and melted together in my vision; except his face. Crowley stood over me with a smile while he stuck a hot poker to the inside of my arm to watch me scream. I didn't want to and I'd tried to resist, but the heat and pain couldn't be avoided.

Crowley smiled down at me, like he was proud of how I was fairing. He liked the long, slow tortures the best. The hot poker, the rods in my head, the spikes he was pressing into my feet.

I just wanted out. I just wanted to be away from him and this table and the things he scarred me with.

"Aren't you just a darling?" He said with a smile, running his thumb over my cheek.

I pulled away from him and his dirty hands. His hands were covered in soot, dirt and my own blood.

"Oh darling. We could be great together, you and I. You're so obedient. I ask for a scream and I am not disappointed." He said with a smile as he stuck me with the poker again.

I pinched my lips closed. _I will not scream this time. I will not scream this time. _

Crowley looked disappointed. "What's this? You did it for me just a moment ago." He said, sticking me again.

_I will not scream. I will not scream._ I chanted in my head. But the pain was overwhelming. I didn't know how much more I could take. My throat was raw, but I couldn't hold out any longer. The scream broke loose from my lips and I sat bolt upright in bed.

I was panting and my chest hurt. I looked across the room to see Henry putting out a small fire.

He stood up and looked at me worriedly. "Are you alright?"

I took my knife out of my pocket and sliced my forearm, right above the wrist. I gritted my teeth in the pain.

"Whoa, whoa!" Henry said, running over to me. He used the towel he'd had to smoother the fire to wrap around my arm. "What the hell was that?"

"I had to make sure I was awake." I told him.

"How the hell does that work?" He asked, still looking stunned.

"I had a dream once about how I got out of the pit and I couldn't tell if it was real or not. So I took a piece of glass and cut my arm and it didn't bleed." I told him, steeling myself against the pain. "Pain is real. It's an anchor point."

Henry looked at me like he couldn't believe me. "Is that why you have so many scars?"

I didn't realize my sleeve had slipped and he could clearly see the forearm of my left arm. There was long and short scars; fat and thin ones; you could even tell the ones that were just slices from the ones that went all the way through.

"Most of them came back with me. I only did a handful." I told him as the pain became a numbing feeling.

"Please…" Henry started but trailed off. "Please don't do that again." He looked lost and sad, like he didn't know what exactly to say.

I nodded to him, not sure what else to do.

Unexpectedly, he pulled me into a hug. I was more surprised as his proximity than anything. I hadn't been touched other than a handshake or a pat on the back in so long; I'd forgotten what it was like to touch someone. Slowly, I put my arms around Henry. He felt nice to hold.

"If you're gonna stay here, you have to find another way to tell that this is real." He said quietly.

"I don't know how to do that." I said into his shoulder.

He pulled away from me and took my hand. "This feels real, right?"

I thought about it for a minute. In the dream state and even in Hell, everything was different. Everything felt like it was slippery and cold. Even if I had a dream with Henry in it, it wouldn't feel like this. I nodded to him. "This feels real."

"Then I'll help as much as I can." Henry told me.

"Don't say that if you're just gonna leave or something." I told him, standing up to get off the bed and put some space between us, squeezing the towel around my arm.

"I'm not. I've lived here my whole life. I'm not leaving." He told me.

A knock on the door frame made me turn. "Magnus wants to see you guys." Will told us.

"Yeah, ok." I said, ducking into the bathroom to wash off the cut. I dried it and covered it with a band aid from the cabinet. Then I followed Will out. I heard Henry behind me, but I didn't know what to say to him. When we got to Magnus's office, Will held the door open for us.

"Blaze, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Ashley." Magnus said, gesturing to the tall blonde that stood next to her.

"Nice to meet you." I said, shaking her hand.

"Mom said you're a pyro." Ashley said, taking me off guard a little bit.

"I don't actually know what that means." I told her, glancing at Magnus.

"Pyrokenetic. It just means you have the ability to control and create fire." Magnus explained.

"Then yes." I said, looking back at Ashley.

"And, I know you might be upset with me…" Magnus started, but I heard their footsteps and smelt the gun oil before they even crossed the threshold.

"Why did you call them?" I asked, feeling my temperature rise a little.

"Because they are the only family you're aware of. They needed to know you were alright." Magnus told me sternly.

I took a breath and turned around. Dean and Sam stood in the doorway, both looking rather pissed. "Alright. Give it to me. We've been separated all of three days. I know you know exactly what you're gonna say, so here ya go." I said, giving them the 'bring it on' gesture.

"What the hell do you think you were doing? Huh? You know every hunter worth his salt would bag and tag you so fast, you wouldn't know it til you hit the ground. And what do you do? You run off to Monster Ville. So… what? So you can feel like you fit in? Because I can guarantee you, Sam and I are just as big of freaks as anything in here." Dean said, seemingly all on one breath.

I stood there, making sure he was done. "I can't risk hurting you guys. Of anybody, you understand what this can do. They put me up in this climate controlled room. It's freaking cold in there and this morning I started a fire the size of your fist. It barely singed the carpet." I said with a smile.

Dean still looked pissed.

"Blaze. What are you doing?" Dean asked.

"The doc did some blood work. She said maybe she can understand me some more from it. She said I might be able to work on controlling this. They say I don't have to be sleep deprived all my life." I told him.

"Blaze, come with us." Sam said and I felt a prick of pain in my chest.

"You were the one that told me I was going to get you killed. I just took your advice and now you want me to go back to traveling the country in the backseat of the impala?" I asked, looking at him.

I could almost see Dean's ears go up. "You did this?" He turned on Sam.

"Dean. Stop this. Right now. This was my decision." I told him.

He glared at me hard.

"Every hunter worth his salt would've bagged and tagged me. You said it yourself. But you didn't. So you have to care for me somewhere deep, deep down in the black hole of a heart. If you care about me, you need to let me stay here so they can help me manage this." I told him.

"I thought you managed it just fine." He said, barely moving his jaw.

I shook my head. "I wasn't. I wasn't managing it at all. I know that now. Burnt up motel curtains is no way to live."

"So what? You expect me to just leave you here?" He asked, puffing up as he glanced around the room.

I nodded slowly.

I saw the fire in his eyes. "No. No!" He yelled. "Screw this and screw all of you." Dean said, pointing a finger at everyone in the room including me. "I pulled you out of burning rubble myself. Sam and I pushed the support beams off of you with our bare hands because we could hear you crying. We fed and clothed you. You were like a sister to me." His voice kept getting louder.

"Do you want to have a screaming match?" I asked him.

"Yes!" He yelled, looking like he could tear me apart.

I felt my temperature rise and I knew he could feel it in my glare. "No! I left because of this! Because it's always you and Sam and I'm this awkward third gun. I can out shoot you and out stitch you, but as long as you have Sam, that doesn't matter!" I yelled back at him.

"Don't be stupid! You mean something to us!" He told me loudly.

"And now I'm stupid? Of all things, Dean?"

Dean looked defeated. "Blaze, I-" He started, but I cut him off.

"No! Just listen. For once." I begged, my temperature still bubbling. "These are my people. They can't fix me, but they can help me."

"_We_ are your people!" Dean roared.

"Blaze." I heard from behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Henry, looking so small. He was worried. Why was he worried?

But then I felt it in my chest and saw the heat waves coming off my skin. My eyes went wide and the panic flooded my chest, making the pain worse. I grunted, doubling over.

"Blaze!" Dean yelled.

"Get… out." I struggled, looking up at him.

"Everybody out!" Dean yelled and Magnus, Ashley, Will and the guys rushed for the door.

"No. Blaze. Look at me." Henry said, sitting in front of me.

"Out." I forced the word out of my lips around a cloud of smoke, trying to push him away.

"No. I told you I'd be here for you. I'm not goin' back on that. Do you remember that? When we talked earlier? I told you to stop cutting yourself because I'd be here, just like this." He told me and it took so much effort just to focus on his words.

"Hey. Look at me. I know it hurts. I know you want to just let it out because of this monster inside of you and you think, if you just let it out, everything will be better. You won't feel the pain anymore." He said.

I nodded, barely managing the simple gesture.

"But it won't. If you let it out, it won't make you feel better and it won't take away this pain. This is only a part of you, alright? This isn't who you are. It's going to stay with you forever, but that just means you have to learn to control it. You have to suppress it." Henry told me.

"I don't want to hurt you." I said around a mouthful of smoke.

"Then don't hurt me." Henry said with a smile.

I gripped my sides, the pain steadily getting worse.

Henry took my hand and gripped it tightly, almost digging his fingers into my skin. I saw him grit his teeth. "Does this feel real?"

I nodded and I could feel my temperature ebb a little.

"Then focus on it. My rough hands against your smooth skin." He told me, covering my hand with both of his.

I watched his face and thought of only the feeling of his skin against mine. His hands had calluses and they were rough from work, but they were gentle with my hand. His fingers were a little longer than mine and he easily wrapped my hand in both of his.

I could feel the heat waves die out and the pain in my chest recede a little. I saw something move and looked over to see Dean and Will in the doorway. The panic and fear crept back into my chest when I saw the same expressions on their faces. They were terrified.

Henry gripped my hand tighter with one hand, setting his other on my cheek to make me look at him. "Only me. Don't think about them. Just look at me and focus on calming down. Make it go away." He told me.

I nodded, getting lost in his blue eyes. I felt the last little bit of the heat slip away from me and my temperature return to normal. "I burnt you."

Henry smiled, his hand still on my cheek. "I've had worse."

"That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt." I told him.

"I'm ok." He told me quietly.

I felt woozy all the sudden. "I'm sorry." I mumbled to Henry, seeing my vision swim.

"Blaze?" He asked, but his voice was distorted in my ears.

I saw Dean's lips move as he ran towards me before I tipped sideways and fell into darkness.


	5. I See the Devil in Your Face

Black shadows danced against a red wall.

A voice in the background spoke words I couldn't understand.

And then it laughed at me.

A hand reached out of the darkness with a scalpel and cut lines into my skin from all angles and I couldn't fight it off.

It laughed at me again as I tried to move out of its reach.

I sucked in a big breath as I sat upright in bed. The images of my nightmare floated at the front of my brain. I heard the laughing in my ears and wondered if I was awake at all. The room was dark except for a lamp in the middle of the room, casting a soft glow across the red and gold carpets.

Henry stood at the foot of the bed with a fire extinguisher. There was foam on the carpet and he looked up at me with a smile.

I reached into my pocket for my knife, but it wasn't there.

"I told you. No more cutting." He said, looking disappointed.

"Dean." I said, my eyes going wide as I threw myself off the bed.

Henry caught me as I stumbled. "Hey now. Slow down. Gonna hurt yourself." He told me, sitting me back on the bed. He held my hand as he sat next to me.

I squeezed it and he squeezed back. I nodded. Alright. This was real. Good.

"Dean's fine. So is Sam. They've been waiting for you to wake up." Henry told me.

"How long was I out?" I asked him.

"About three days. Only two fires though." He told me.

"They've just been hanging out here, bugging you for three days?" I asked.

Henry nodded. "Dean is pretty persistent."

"Hey Henry. Can you-" Sam said as he entered the room, but stopped, seeing me.

Henry discreetly let go of my hand and stood up as Sam ran over and hugged me.

This took me more off guard than when Henry had done it. "I'm ok Sam." I told him, hugging him back.

He nodded, pulling away from me. "I'll uh… I'll go get Dean." He said, turning and walking out of the room.

"That was very emotional for someone who told me I was going to kill him a week ago." I said to myself.

Henry shrugged. "I'll be in the computer lab if you need me." He told me.

"Henry!" I said, standing from the bed. He turned and looked at me. "Thank you. For taking care of me."

He smiled and ducked his head a little. "It's no problem." He said, before turning back around and leaving only seconds before Dean burst through the door.

He wrapped his arms around me before I could even think.

"Hey, Dean." I said, struggling to breathe from his tight grasp.

"The doc said you might not wake up for a couple more days." He told me.

"Well, I'm awake now." I said with a smile.

Dean looked worried as he watched me and Sam stood a few feet away.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I told Magnus we'd stick around until you woke up." Dean said.

"What?" I asked, feeling like all the breath had been sucked out of me.

Dean looked hurt. "When we know you're better, we're leaving."

I blinked, sure that I heard him wrong. "You're what?"

"We can't stay here, Blaze. You need help, but not any help we can give you." Sam said, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"So you're just gonna leave me?" I asked.

"We'll be back." Dean told me.

"But you're leaving me." I said again.

"I'm not gonna get in another fight with you." Dean said quietly.

My head spun and I looked at them, but I couldn't completely see them. They looked like shadows set against a wall; their faces morphing to look almost animated. They were laughing at me and calling me names.

"Blaze?" Sam asked and I whipped my head towards him. We were in the room Will had given me, but their faces stayed animated.

"No." I murmured, feeling breathless. I ran between them, dodging out of either of their reach and ran down the hallway. I didn't know how far I had run until I almost knocked over Henry as he came out of the computer lab.

"Whoa. Blaze. Are you ok?" He asked.

"Is this real? Are we really here?" I asked him, looking deep into his eyes.

"Yeah. Yeah this is real." He squeezed my hand tightly and I nodded before noticing Will behind him. Oh great. That was gonna go with my psych evaluation.

"Are you seeing things?" Will asked.

I shook my head. "What? No. Why do you ask?" I said, much too quickly.

"She has a hard time deciding what's real and what's not." Henry volunteered, despite the look I was giving him.

"What happened?" Will asked.

"Sam and Dean told me they were leaving and they just morphed into these shadows with cartoony faces and they kept laughing at me." I said, trying to shake the image from my head.

Will nodded and I was very familiar with the look he was giving me. The guys ran up, but their faces were normal again.

"What the hell was that?" Dean asked, looking tense.

"I thought I saw something else. It's not a big deal." I told him.

"Are you hallucinating?" Dean asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

"What? No way." I told him.

"Yeah you are. Jumpy, out of breath." Sam said.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Dean asked in that older brother voice.

"Because I knew you'd get like this. It's fine. I'm handling it." I told him sternly.

"Like you handled the fires?" He asked and I felt like I'd been slapped.

I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat and Henry squeezed my hand again.

"And what? You've been here awake for three days and you've already got an in." Sam said, gesturing to Henry.

I let go of Henry and my temperature flared. "Screw you. Leave Henry alone or we can go outside."

"Blaze. I don't think that's a good idea." Will said.

"Didn't really ask you, doc." I told him.

Dean threw his hands up and grabbed Sam's shoulder, dragging him away.

"Why'd you stand up for Henry like that?" Will asked.

"What?" I said.

"You hardly know him." Will said.

I blinked and looked at Henry. "Is this happening?" I asked him.

"Afraid so." Henry said, rocking on his heels.

"Listen here Doc Oc. You don't get to just question every time I take a sip of juice alright? I'm a big kid over here and if I wanna stand up for Henry, I'm gonna damn well stand up for Henry." I told him.

Will looked surprised, holding his hands up in defense. "I didn't mean anything by it."

I rubbed my forehead as it started to ache.

"Are you ok?" Henry asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'm gonna go get some fresh air." I told him, turning before either of them could protest and walking until I found a door that led outside.

I wandered for a little bit until I found a little grove of trees to sit under. I sat down and looked around. The grove was made of a bunch of low hung trees that easily hid me in the darkness. I sighed, pulling my knees up to my chest and laying my forehead across them. I didn't want this to be so complicated. I just wanted Magnus to fix me or contain me somehow.

I didn't want the guys here.

I didn't want to be fighting with Will over stupid shit.

I didn't want to be passing out because of a fight.

I just wanted to go back to being normal. Because I couldn't remember it, but I knew I wasn't always like this. I knew this didn't happen before Crowley got a hold of me. I didn't know how, I just knew.

And that was another problem. What was I going to do when Crowley got his hands on me again? Because he obviously would. He was the king of hell.

I leaned my head back against the tree and let the breeze rustle the low hanging branches.

Soon enough, I heard Sam and Dean walking the garden calling my name. I kept quiet and stayed where I was. I didn't want to talk to them. I didn't want to have to tell them why I was feeling the way I did. I didn't want to talk about how I saw things that weren't there.

"You find her?" Dean called to Sam.

"No. Nothing." Sam said. "You think she ran away?"

"Nah. She wouldn't leave all her stuff. And she seems pretty attached to that Henry kid." Dean said.

I put my hand over my mouth to cover the sound of my breathing.

"Yeah, alright. She's probably just hiding somewhere." Sam said and their voices faded as they walked away.

I leaned my head back against the tree and wished I had the ability to melt into it. Instead, I could kill it with a flare of my temper. I sighed.

I didn't know how long I'd been sitting there, but I felt it'd been long enough. I slowly crawled out from under the tree and looked around. It seemed much darker, maybe later in the evening than I had thought. I glanced around and very few lights were on in the Sanctuary. The breeze that blew across the garden felt nice against my skin, cooling.

As I walked towards the door I'd come out earlier, I noticed how the calm unsettled me. It was quiet, but almost too quiet, like I couldn't hear anything. I pulled open the door and was relieved when I could hear the move. I was also relieved to see the hallway lit so I didn't have to stumble around in the dark.

But now that I thought of it; the Sanctuary probably kept a bunch of nocturnal… What did henry call them? Abnormals? Maybe that was it.

I turned the corner and Bigfoot almost scared me off my feet. I put my hand over my heart and tried to push down the fear that jumped into my chest. "Hey. Sorry. You scared me." I told him.

He nodded. "They were worried about you."

"Huh? Oh, Sam and Dean? They're losers." I said with a wave of my hand.

Biggie shook his head. "Henry, Magnus and Will."

"Oh. Them. Yeah. Well." I said, tripping over my words.

He slapped me upside the head and I just looked at him, confused and surprised.

"What was that for?" I asked.

"Not telling anyone where you were going. Henry and Magnus are in her office." He told me, walking on by me.

I just watched him until he left, still surprised. "I got head slapped my Bigfoot." And so I made my way to Magnus's office. Standing at the doorway, I saw Magnus talking to Henry while he paced. I knocked on the door frame, not wanting to interrupt whatever pow-wow they had going on.

"Hello Blaze." Magnus said. "Are you feeling better?"

I shook my head, not entirely sure how to relay how I was actually feeling. "Did they leave yet?"

"I don't believe so. I'm sure they'd want to wish you farewell." Magnus said with a smile.

I gave her a little smile. "You don't know the guys very well."

Magnus nodded. "Very possible."

Henry seemed to be chewing on his thumb nail as I talked with Magnus. "I'm sorry." I told him.

"For what?" He asked.

"Running away." I said, biting my lip and ducking my head.

Henry waved his hand. "I found you on the thermal scan. We knew you were ok."

I nodded.

"Your blood work came back, if you're interested." Magnus said.

"Yeah." I said, feeling my hopes rise a little as I fully entered the room and made my way over to her at her desk.

"Once your results came back, I found that your white blood cell count is incredibly high. Usually, the only people that have this high of a white blood cell count are people with acute lymphocytic leukemia. But there's no sign of any kind of cancer in your body. There's no sign of any kind of infection for that matter." Magnus informed me.

"Another thing I noticed; when your white blood cell count goes up, it makes the blood thick, almost like a sludge. It makes it much more difficult for the blood to circulate. But with your high body temperature, the blood still moves quickly through your system. I'd wager you haven't been sick since this happened to you." She said, looking up at me.

"Uh. No. I don't think so. I don't get hung over either, if it means anything." I said with a shrug.

Magnus nodded and Henry looked back and forth between us. "Body temperature is determined by the body's thermoregulatory set-point. The body increases this set-point in response to threats such as bacterial or viral infections. But your temperature is already so high that if you were to get a virus, your body would burn it out before it even had a chance to take hold. It's incredible."

"And what does all that tell you, doc?" I asked, looking over at her.

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I've seen what elementals themselves can do. But I've never seen a humanoid elemental like this." She said.

I tried to avoid the way she said 'humanoid' and swallowed the lump in my throat. "You're not instilling a lot of confidence in me, doc." I told her.

"I'll have to do some research. Do you get hungry often?" She asked.

I blinked and looked over at Henry, before looking back at her. "Sometimes…"

"I was merely wondering if with your heated temperature, it affected your metabolism."

"Dean tells me I eat like a horse when I can." I said with a shrug.

Magnus nodded. "If you'll excuse me, I need to make a few calls. Henry, show our guest the kitchen. I don't believe she's eaten since she awoke."

"Sure doc." Henry said and with a smile to me, gestured to the door.

I nodded, following him out of the office and down the hall. "So," I said after we'd walked in silence for a few minutes. "Thermal scan."

"Yeah. I mean, I wasn't like trying to watch you or anything, because that would be super weird." He said with a nervous laugh.

"Thanks." I told him as we turned another corner.

"You keep thanking me, but I really don't mind." Henry said as we crossed the threshold for the kitchen. "So what do you fancy?"

"Something sweet." I told him.

"Alright. Ice cream, pie or cake?" He asked.

"Ice cream." I said.

"Chocolate, Vanilla or Salted Caramel?" he asked, opening a freezer that I couldn't read the label on.

I smiled. "Do you have to have three options for everything?"

"Nobody agrees on anything around here, I swear." He said with a smile.

I realized I liked seeing Henry like this; carefree. He wasn't thinking about whatever his problems were, or me melting the place, or my older protective should-be brothers. He was just trying to find me ice cream. I smiled. "Salted caramel."

He pulled the container out of the fridge and started scooping me a bowl. After he handed me the bowl and a spoon, he dished himself some and put the tub back in the freezer.

I jumped up on the counter and smiled at the sensation of the ice cream melting in my mouth. "Dean doesn't let us have anything in the car that could cause a mess. Like burgers are ok, because you can vacuum up the crumbs. Ice cream, juice, sticky stuff is a no or you gotta clean it up yourself." I told Henry.

"No kidding." He said around a mouthful of frozen cream.

I smiled, devouring my ice cream before it melted. I jumped off the counter and washed my dish and spoon before laying them in the drying rack. "So no sleep for you tonight?" I asked, seeing the clock read that it was very near four in the morning.

Henry shrugged. "Sleep is overrated some days."

I gave him a grin. "When was the last time you actually slept?" I asked him.

He thought about it for a minute. "I fell asleep for a few minutes while you were out."

"A few minutes in three days." I said with a shake of my head.

"What?" He asked, looking confused.

"Where's your room?" I asked him, still smiling a little.

"Uh… well, I uhh…" He stumbled over his words, not taking his eyes off me.

"Henry. Relax." I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. "I'm putting you to bed, not going to bed with you."

He nodded. "No, no, I know. I knew that. I'm just not very tired." He said, unconvincingly.

I rolled my eyes and looped my arm through his. "You've been awake for about seventy-two hours, give or take. If you sleep until nine in the morning, you're ahead."

He glanced at me and seemed to nod. "Yeah alright."

And so he walked me to his room and when he opened the door, he turned to me. "Thanks."

I shrugged. "I'm just returning the favor." I told him.

He smirked a little and closed the door behind him.

I nodded to myself, taking note of where his room was in correlation to the computer lab. I hummed along with a song that played in my head as I walked back to my room. I figured I would hang out until it was early enough to get coffee.

I didn't think about anything in particular when I sat down at the desk with my notebook. I just wrote until I figured I could stop. When I did finally stop and read back through it, it ended up being about a peasant girl that moves to a wealthy kingdom. While she's sneaking around the castle, she meets a Prince, who befriends her to the best of his abilities. I wasn't entirely sure where it came from, but it made me smile.

When I glanced at the clock, I realized it was almost seven. I hoped Henry was still asleep. I stood and wandered my way back to the kitchen. Will, Dean, and Sam stood near each other and the coffee pot as they talked.

"Good morning." Will said. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"No fires, no sleep." I said with a smile.

"You seem awful cheery." Sam said with an edge as he sipped his coffee.

"You seem awful grumpy, as per the usual." I said, pouring myself a cup of the black brew.

"Guys." Dean said, drawing out the word. "Can we not fight right before we leave?"

I shrugged. "Where are you guys off to?"

"Bobby's got a job for us in New York." Dean told me.

I nodded. "I've never been there. You should send me a postcard back." I said passively, figuring he wouldn't actually do it.

Dean nodded though. "Yeah, I bet I can do that."

"How long are you guys normally gone?" Will asked them.

"A normal job takes us about a week. Sometimes longer, depending on how much we know about it." Dean said.

"So what were you up to all night if you didn't sleep?" Will asked and I felt like I'd been thrown under the bus.

"Uh. After I came out of hiding, Magnus talked to me about my blood work and I had ice cream with Henry." I said, sipping my coffee.

"Kissed him yet?" Dean asked, as if he was asking me to fill up his coffee cup.

"What? No. Henry…" I trailed off, thinking about it. "Henry is out of my league."

"No way." Will threw in. Dean nodded in agreement.

I just looked at them both funny. "He's so far out of my league, that if my league was to explode, he wouldn't hear it for three days." I informed them.

"Are you serious? He's not out of your league; that ball is sitting on a t-ball stand." Dean told me.

I blinked. "Are we seriously having this conversation?" I asked them.

"What conversation?" Henry asked, standing in the doorway.

"Nothing." I said, maybe a little too fast.

He eyed me oddly before his gaze swept over the other three guys. "Were you talking about me?"

"Actually, Blaze wanted to know-" Dean said and I stomped on his foot, making him choke.

"When breakfast is. I'm starving." I said with the best smile I could manage.

Henry eyed all four of us. Sam smirked while Dean grumbled under his breath and Will shrugged like he had no idea what was going on.

"Right… You were totally talking about me." Henry said.


	6. You Can't Even Imagine My Pain

When Dean could hobble into the dining room, we had a huge breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, waffles, pancakes, and crepes. I was pretty sure Dean was in Heaven and I definitely wasn't complaining.

Magnus informed the rest of the table about my blood condition, since Dean asked. I'm pretty sure Henry and I zoned that part out since we already heard it. So when everyone else was half way through breakfast, Henry and I were finished.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked him quietly, as to not disturb the others conversation.

"Yes. Thanks for making me go to bed." He said with a smile.

I shrugged. "Anything to help."

"So you were talking about me, weren't you?" Henry muttered.

"Why would you think that?" I asked quietly.

"Because Dean keeps glaring at you." Henry told me.

I smiled. "That's a main aspect of his personality. I tend to ignore it."

Henry shrugged. "I dunno. Seems kinda fishy to me."

I smiled. "No fish in the vicinity." I told him.

He shook his head. "You're stubborn."

"Would you have as much fun with me if I wasn't?" I asked.

"What are you two whispering about?" Dean asked, looking alert.

"No whispering." Sam said, glaring at Henry and I. I rolled my eyes and suppressed the urge to tell him where he could go. Magnus went back to telling the boys what she'd told us last night.

"No." Henry mumbled, partially covering his mouth.

"Hmm?" I said without moving my lips.

"No. You wouldn't be as much fun." He murmured into his hand.

I smiled, ducking my head a little. "So what do you do for fun around here?" I asked as I wiped my mouth with my napkin.

"Code programs, feed the abnormals." Henry said.

"I said fun. Not what you get paid for." I murmured.

"That's fun for me." He whispered.

"God, you're boring." I said, suppressing a giggle.

"Alright, you two need separated." Sam said with a glare.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes mom." I said, pushing my chair back away from the table.

"And where do you think you're going?" Dean asked.

"To wander. I'm gonna go see the mermaid." I said with a smile.

Dean and Sam both blinked before slowly turning to look at Magnus. "Mermaid?" They said in unison.

"Sally loves company. Ya know, as long as you don't tap on the glass." Henry said.

"She has a name, you know." Magnus said.

"Not that anyone can pronounce, mom." Ashley said for the first time since she sat down.

"Ok, to see Sally." Will said, standing up.

"Wait!" Dean said, but Henry took my hand and we walked out of the room before the guys could catch up.

"So are you two like an item?" Ashley asked as Henry hadn't let go of my hand, not that I minded.

"They have some deep spiritual connection." Will said and I blinked, looking over at Henry.

"Yeah, it's pretty much always like this." He said, gently letting go of my hand as he steered us through the winding hallways.

"See. Deep spiritual connection." Will reiterated.

I shook my head. "Henry's just helping me cope."

Ashley kind of smiled. "Good for you, Henry."

"Hey." Will said to the tank as we approached it. "We've got a visitor for you."

It took a moment, but out of the depths of the tank, a creature came swimming forward. She was nothing like the movies where they look half human with a tail. She looked kind of human, except her skin and tail were blue and scaly. She had shells and coral braided into her hair and despite her unnerving blue skin, she smiled with bright eyes.

"Hey Sally. I've heard a lot about you." I said with a smile.

She grinned back at me and put her hand up to the glass.

I put my hand up to hers, wondering why she was doing it.

_"You have a good heart."_ A soft voice whispered in my eyes.

I took a shocked step back, looking for the source of the voice. I didn't want to be hearing things too.

"Sally's telepathic. The glass acts as a phone." Ashley explained, gesturing to the tank.

"Seriously?" I asked, looking between her and the glass before I set my hand back down.

_"You have a heavy future ahead of you."_ The voice blew past my ear like a breeze.

"Heavy?" I asked, looking at her confused.

_"Yes. You will have to make a difficult decision in the face of great evil."_ Her voice murmured.

I nodded for a moment, thinking. "Crowley?"

_"The short, bald man, yes."_ She said.

"Difficult decisions." I said, rolling it over in my head.

She nodded and with a smile, swam away. "That was interesting." I said, not really meaning it.

"Interesting good or interesting bad?" Dean asked from the other side of the room.

"Did you see her? She was gorgeous." I said with a smile.

Dean just stood there with that look of his, the one I associated with being a big brother. The 'cut the crap and knock it off' look. I received this look often.

"Dean. You can't tell me that wasn't cool." I told him, gesturing to the tank.

"Ya know, I forgot we have to calibrate the pistols today." Ashley said, grabbing Will and walking the other way.

"I gotta go defrag-" Henry started.

"You can stay." Dean said and I noticed Sam wasn't in sight.

"Dean. What are you doing? Besides making a fool of yourself." I asked him.

He puffed up like the proud big brother bear he was. He might not have had Sam's height, but he could be intimidating sometimes. Not to me, since I knew he was ticklish on the back of his knees and in one spot on his ribs.

But Henry didn't know this and he looked mildly worried. For being some sort of monster, he didn't seem to act like.

"I'm leaving. Taking Sam with me. For whatever reason, she's decided to attach herself to you." Dean said, looking at Henry. "So, if I come back and found out she's got hurt, I will kill you."

I rolled my eyes. "So if I run away and get in a knife fight, you're gonna kill Henry?"

He whipped his head around to look at me. "Yes. Because somebody has to watch your back while you're here."

"Because, I obviously can't take care of myself right?" I asked, proud of myself for keeping my temper in check. I was merely teasing him, but he looked like he was gonna blow his top.

"I'm not gonna let her get hurt." Henry spook up, looking Dean straight in the eye.

Dean watched him for a moment before nodding. Then he turned to me and his expression softened. "You gonna give me a hug before I go hunt monsters or you gonna let me just leave?"

I smiled at him, stepping down the two steps to hug him. "Be careful, Dean. Just because I'm not going with you doesn't mean you get a free ride to be reckless."

He nodded. When he pulled back, I could see conflicting emotions on his face. "You be careful. You hear any chatter about Crowley, you ring me up." Dean said.

I nodded to him, giving him one more hug before he nodded to Henry and turned to walk out of the big stone room. I looked over at Henry who watched Dean leave. "I'm sorry for my jackass of a brother."

Henry smiled. "The first girl I ever dated had two older brothers. The first time I came over to pick her up, they grabbed me before I got to the door and hung me by my ankles in the front yard, making me an hour late. So, personally, I think that went pretty well."

I couldn't help but giggle. "By your ankles? I'm sure that was pleasant."

Henry grinned. "I had a headache for the next four hours and bruises on my ankles for a week."

"Well. I won't let him hang you by your ankles in the garden." I said with a smile.

He nodded. "I'd appreciate that."

"Did Ashley and Will really have to calibrate pistols or was that just an excuse?" I asked, seeing them nowhere in sight.

Henry smiled. "Both." He said as he held his arm out to me. "M'lady."

I blushed as I took his arm. "Why, thank you good sir."

"The armory is just around the corner. We keep a wide arrange of weapons for different uses." He told me. "I actually designed a couple of them."

"Did you really?" I asked, a little surprised.

He smiled. "Yeah, I'll show you." He said, walking me around the corner and into a semi-open room that held three walls of guns around another wall of computers.

I smiled at Will and Ashley when I saw them. "Gonna show her the Magnum?" Ashley asked with a smile.

Henry nodded over to her. "I just showed this to Magnus last month. So it looks like a standard issue nine millimeter pistol, right?" He asked, showing it to me.

I took it from his hands and rolled it over. "Yeah." I agreed.

Henry grinned. "Well, I made some modifications to it. If you hit this button here," he said, pushing a button near the safety and a three inch knife slid out. "A knife blade slides out of the wall of the grip. But it's far enough inside that it doesn't mess with the magazine or anything. And there's a pressure plate." He told me, sliding the knife back inside the grip and holding it with two hands. "So if you're holding it with both hands and you have a hand anywhere on the bottom of the grip, it's like a lock so the blade won't come out."

I was sure my eyes were bigger than they needed to be. "That's insane. I would love to have one of these." I said, as he handed it back to me.

"Yeah?" He asked, looking proud.

I held it with one hand and pushed the button. "Hell yeah. I could think of a few big bad uglies that this would take care of." And then I blinked. "You, uh. You knew what I meant."

Henry smiled like he didn't hold it against me.

"So you're a hunter, huh?" Ashley asked, cleaning the gold and silver gun in her hand.

I bite my lip, not sure how this was going to play out. "Uh, yeah. I guess." I said, playing to play it down.

"That's cool. I met an old guy once who was doing it. A friend of my mom's. Maybe you know him. His name was Bobby?" She asked, glancing over at me.

I smiled. "Bobby gave me your mom's business card. That's how I ended up here."  
I told her with a smile.

"No way. That's cool." She said.

I glanced down at her custom gold and silver Jericho 941. "Nice gun. Nine millimeter?"

Ashley looked up with a wary expression. "Yeah, you know guns?"

I shrugged. "Well, I like to think so."

She nodded. "What do you carry?"

"Beretta 92." I told her, pulling the gun from the waistband of my pants and showing it off.

"You've been carrying this whole time?" Will asked.

I looked at him like he was crazy. "I sleep with this thing. You think I'm gonna walk around a castle without a gun?"

Ashley smiled and looked at Henry. "I like her."

"I hate to sound like this, but did you check your chamber?" I asked, realizing she hadn't.

"Yeah, why?" She asked, looking over at me.

I shook my head a little, remembering how Dean was with his guns. "No reason." I said.

She kind of watched me before grabbing a pair of headphones and a full magazine from the rack.

"Why'd you ask about her gun?" Henry whispered.

"Because she didn't clean out the chamber." I told him.

He looked up, watching Ashley. The first round hit the target beautifully. Her Jericho jammed though on the second round, the slide partially open. Henry glanced back at me and I shrugged.

"How'd you know she didn't clean the chamber?" Will asked.

I shrugged again. "I watched her. She did the same thing Sam always does. I was talking to her and it just slipped her mind."

Ashley came back, looking frustrated. "My gun never jams." She pulled it apart and looked confused. "There's dirt in the chamber. How'd you know?" She asked, looking up at me.

"I distracted you." I told her.

She nodded. "So can you shoot that thing?"

I smiled. "You wanna see my trick?" I asked Henry.

"Hell yeah." Henry said, looking excited.

"What trick?" Will asked.

"Blaze told me she can do this gun spinning trick." Henry said with a smile.

"Is that safe?" Will asked.

"We'll stand behind the bullet proof glass." Ashley said, excitedly.

I smiled, picking up the Beretta, a set of headphones and a pair of glasses. I checked the mag and slid it back into place. I walked over to the door to the firing range, locking the bullet proof glass door behind me. I took a breath and made sure to push my temperature down a little bit.

I positioned myself so that even though I was facing away from them, they could still see me. I started spinning the gun in my hand forward, then knocked it to start spinning backwards. I knocked it again to send it forwards; and when it got going, I let it go and flicked my wrist so that it came up over my shoulder, still spinning until it landed it my hand.

Quickly, I racked the slide and emptied the magazine of five bullets into the target at the bottom of the range. I reached up and hit the button to bring the target forward on the rollers. I took off the headphones and glasses after laying down the gun. I only had one bullet outside the ten ringer. I picked up the target and turned around.

Henry and Ashley gave me a thumbs up while Will and Magnus didn't look as impressed. I laid the target down to place the Beretta back in the waistband of my jeans. I picked up the glasses, headphones and target and unlocked the door.

"What was that exactly?" Magnus asked.

"I was showing Henry my trick." I told her, handing the earphones and glasses back to Henry.

"Where did you learn that?" She asked.

I shrugged and tapped my temple. "One of the only things they didn't drill out of me."

"That was much too dangerous to do with a loaded weapon." Magnus told me.

I shrugged, seeing no reason for the reprimand. "Sure thing, Warden." I said, folding my target in half and then half again to make it easier to carry. Without another word, I turned and left the armory.

I was tired, but I knew I couldn't sleep. I went back to my room, locking the door behind me. I laid the target on the bed and pulled out my notebook. I worked on the story about the Prince and peasant for a little while until there was a knock at the door. "Yeah?" I called.

"I brought you lunch." Will said from the other side of the wood.

I sighed. "I'm not hungry." I told him, despite the noises my stomach had been making for ten minutes.

"You should really eat something. Biggie made you a burger and fries." Will called.

I sighed again, knowing he wasn't going to go away. I stood and unlocked the door, letting him in.

He came in and set the tray on the coffee table. "You haven't unpacked?" He asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"No reason to." I told him, going back to my desk.

"Don't you think you're gonna be here for a while?" Will asked, sitting on the couch.

I felt my temper flare. All I wanted was ten minutes to forget the fact I was just at another hospital getting treated by another doctor. I stood and yanked the bag off the floor, tossing it on the bed. I unzipped it and threw the contents into three drawers in the dresser, not bothering with what went where.

When the bag was empty, I dropped it to the floor and kicked it under the bed. "Satisfactory?" I asked him, sitting back at my desk.

He sighed as I sat back down, my back to him. "Blaze. Just talk to me. I can tell you're obviously upset."

"Why would I be upset? I momentarily forgot that I was just another patient in another hospital that's gracious enough to put a lock on my door. End of story." I told him, writing a sentence down.

"You're not in just another hospital." He said quietly. I didn't respond and he was quiet for a moment. "Dean told me you have reoccurring nightmares." Will said.

I smirked. "Gonna try to psyche evaluate me, doc?" I asked.

"Well I'm gonna try. If you let me." He said.

I shrugged. "Thought I told you I'm not lettin' you in my head."

"What are you scared of?" He asked.

I felt my patience spike, but I took a breath. "I'm not scared of anything, doc." I told him.

"Blaze, I realize there's some things you don't want to talk about. But you have to talk to me if you want me to help you." Will said.

I took a deep breath and blew it out. "What you wanna know, doc?"

"Well, how old are you?" He asked.

"I think about twenty-three, but I have no idea." I told him.

"Why do you think twenty-three if you don't remember?" He asked.

"Crowley has a rule about doing things to kids I guess. One of his goons said I was eighteen when I got there." I told him, standing up to flop on the bed.

"So then you were there for five years?" He asked.

"Like I said, give or take." I told him.

He nodded and looked at me oddly.

"I didn't ask you to believe me, alright?" I asked, feeling my blood pressure rise. "You wanted to talk and this is what we ended up talking about."

He held up his hands. "I'm sorry. How about hunting?"

"What do you want to know?" I said, visualizing patterns on the ceiling.

"What was your last job? Before the Shelob?" He asked.

I thought for a second. "Poltergeist in Wyoming."

"And before that?" He asked.

"A Haunting in Connecticut." I told him, then sighed at how I'd worded it. "A ghost haunting a house in Connecticut."

He smiled and nodded. "Do you remember them all?"

I thought about it. "Not really. They start to blur a little bit."

Will nodded like he was taking mental notes. "You have a lot of scars." He commented, trying to be passive.

"One thousand, two hundred, and twenty-nine, in case that was actually your question." I said, with a glance in his direction.

He blinked behind his wire frame glasses. "How did you get so many?" He asked.

"Crowley's favorite form of torture, of course. The Chinese had a practice years ago called Slow Slicing, or Death by a Thousand Cuts." I told him.

"But you didn't die… right?" He asked, suddenly looking nervous.

I turned my gaze back to the ceiling and the swirling patterns. "Probably would've been easier if I had."

"Is that what your nightmares are about?" Will asked.

I sat up and swung my legs to dangle off the tall bed. "I talked with ya doc. But let's both understand one thing. If you got dragged down there; you probably wouldn't have lasted half as long as I did."

He nodded slowly. "Honestly, I don't think I'd be that tough. But you were. You got through it and that's part of the reason I feel the need to talk about it."

I looked down, watching the red and gold carpet. "We're not gonna sit down and have a heart to heart because you think I'm some kind of badass. Although, I appreciate the compliment." I said.

Will smiled at me. "Fair enough." He said, standing. "We normally have dinner at six, but it's whenever you want to eat. Enjoy lunch." And he turned around and left.


	7. Parlor Tricks and Dance Lessons

Despite myself, I took his place at the couch and devoured the hamburger. When I finished, I picked up the tray and headed towards the kitchen. I almost bumped into Magnus while she was leaving the computer lab.

"Hello." She said with a smile.

"Hey doc." I said, ducking around her and keeping on my path.

_Just another patient to another doctor in another hospital…_

"Blaze. Are you alright?" Magnus asked and I could hear her heels click on the heavy tile behind me.

"I'm awesome, doc. Thanks for asking." I told her, pushing open the door to the kitchen with my hip.

"What's wrong?" Henry asked from behind her and I just wanted to burn something down.

"I wish people would quit asking me that. I'm not on fire; I'm fine." I told him.

"Is this about the reprimand I gave you earlier?" Magnus asked and I almost snorted.

_No… Why on earth would it be about that, doc?_ But I kept my mouth shut, working away at cleaning the dishes I'd been given.

"Blaze, I'm sorry if I offended you. I was simply trying to inform you of the dangers of your activities." Magnus told me.

"It's whatever, doc. Not a big deal." I told her.

"Obviously, you must hold something against me, if the manner of your words has anything to do with it." She said and I hated how the sound of her voice granted against my ears.

"Doc, seriously. Let it go. It's whatever." I told her, putting the last dish in the rack to dry.

"Blaze…" Henry said, setting his hand on my shoulder.

I hunched over the sink, watching the wind blow the trees in front of the window. "No, Henry. Just stop it, ok?" I asked, gently moving his hand from my shoulder. "If you guys are gonna treat me like a kid, then I'm gonna act like one."

"How was I doing that?" Magnus asked.

I turned to her and sighed. "If you really think I'd do something as stupid as putting Henry, Will and Ashley in danger, then you obviously don't' know me well enough for me to be staying here. It was a trick, the slide wasn't racked and I've done it a thousand times. Hell, I had to do it nearly ten times to prove to Dean I actually could. If you don't trust me, that's fine and I'll be on my merry way. But I'm trusting you to not be some demon goon that's keeping tabs on me for Crowley, so I was assuming you were going to give me some sort of trust in return."

Henry looked between us. "She's right, Doc. And we were behind bullet proof glass even if one went off on accident."

Magnus looked like she was thinking the situation over. "Alright. I apologize for reprimanding you. I would appreciate it, however, if you don't go putting ideas into the heads of my team, such as parlor tricks involving guns."

"As long as we're on the same page, Doc." I said.

She nodded. "Thank you, Henry." She said, before nodding to me and walking away.

"How do you do it?" I asked Henry, looking over at him.

"Do what?" He asked, looking confused.

"You're some kind of abnormal. You're not some kind of elemental like me, so yours has to be some psychical thing, right? I'm not asking you to tell me what it is." I said, as he gave me wary look. "I don't care one way or another. But how do you manage it?"

Henry thought about it for a moment. "It was hard at first. But this is my home, my family. If I ever hurt them…" He said, trailing off. "I'd never forgive myself."

I nodded, not sure what to say.

"Did Will ask about your scars?" Henry asked quietly, as if he spoke any louder, it'd be taboo.

I nodded. "He didn't like it when I told him how many I had or where they came from. He still doesn't believe I was actually in Hell. Which, ya know, I understand. But still." I told him, not sure what made me want to start rambling.

"One thousand, two hundred and twenty-nine is a lot of scars." Henry said, making my head turn.

"He told you?" I asked, not sure how I felt about it.

"Only because I asked." He said, leaning into me a little.

I nodded. I didn't know if I wanted Henry to know how many scars I'd had or how I got them. But I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, making me lift my head. I drew my pistol, seeing Crowley stand next to the mermaid fridge. "Shit. What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing deary. I just wanted to let you know how silly you look." Crowley said with a smile.

"What are you doing?" Henry asked, looking a startled.

"What… What? You can't see him? He's right there." I told Henry, never taking my eyes off Crowley.

"Sorry love. He can't see anything, but you pointing a gun at nothing." Crowley smiled.

"Blaze, there's nothing there." Henry said.

I could feel the panic flood my chest. "Go away." I whispered, watching him pace closer.

"Oh, darling. I love it when you talk dirty." He said, taking another step towards me.

I couldn't stand it anymore. I fired two shots at his figure, but he disappeared as soon as the bullets left the chamber.

"Whoa! Hey!" Henry said, visibly shaken by my discharge.

"Fuck." I said, lowering the pistol. "He's in the Sanctuary."

"What was that? Who's in the Sanctuary?" Henry asked before his radio crackled to life.

"Henry? What was that?" Magnus's voice said over the intercom.

"Weapons discharge in the kitchen. False alarm." Henry said to her.

"What the hell happened?" Will asked.

"I think we have a breach in security. I'm taking Blaze to the computer lab." Henry said into his radio before grabbing my arm and roughly pulling me down the hall.

"Hey! What was that for? He was there!" I told him.

"No, he wasn't. You fired a gun at thin air." Henry said, visibly upset with me.

"Henry." I said, yanking my arm out of his grasp as we rounded a corner. "He was right there. Crowley was not ten feet from you and you're looking at me like I have two heads." I said.

Henry looked pissed. "There wasn't anything there. I would have been able to smell it. That's part of my thing. Enhanced senses. I didn't smell or sense anything in the kitchen and you could have hurt yourself."

I clicked the safety on and put my Beretta in the waistband of my jeans. "You don't believe me?"

"No. Because if something had been there, for real, I would have sensed it." Henry said, as Will, Magnus and Ashley came down the hall, all with guns drawn. Henry turned and started working away at his computer. "Are you alright?" Magnus asked us.

"Yes." Henry said curtly.

"What happened?" Magnus asked.

"Give me a second." Henry said, going back and forth between his desktop and the tablet. He worked for almost a minute before he picked up the tablet to show me. "This is a history of every breach we've ever encountered. There's no way anything got into this building without me knowing it."

I blinked, looking over the list. The last breach was two weeks before I got here. "That's… that's not possible. He was there." I said, looking between Henry and Magnus. "Crowley was in the kitchen. He was antagonizing me. That's why I tried to shoot him." I said.

"You tried to shoot the king of Hell with a nine millimeter?" Will asked, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, it wouldn't have killed him. But he would have at least paused." I said, realizing it wasn't my best idea ever.

"Crowley wasn't here." Henry said, still looking pissed.

"Henry, I know it sounds crazy. But you have to believe me. You were leaning up against me. It wasn't like I was tripping on acid. I could tell he was there. He was teasing me about how you couldn't see him and I was looking like an idiot." I told him.

He shook his head. "You're right; I couldn't see him."

"Magnus, you have to believe me. He was there." I said, turning to her.

"Alright. Let's all just calm down. Ashley, go through all the security protocols with Henry. Will and I will take Blaze back to her room." Magnus said, putting her gun away.

Ashley went to work with Henry and Magnus put her hand on my arm, guiding me down the hall.

"I don't understand. There was no sulfur. There was no flash or smoke. No smell of fire. He just laughed at me for looking like an idiot and then he disappeared." I told her.

"We have to assume this was an attack on the Sanctuary and we'll work through it from there." Magnus told me, but I could tell she didn't believe me.

"What does he look like?" Will asked.

I sighed. Of all the people I wanted to talk about this, Will didn't make the list. "He's a little taller than me. Maybe about Henry's height. He's got dark hair, but it's balding. He wears lots of black and red and he's Scottish." I told them.

"Scottish?" Will asked, glancing up at Magnus.

I sighed. "Can we just skip to the part where you lock me in my room?"

"I've told you; this is not a prison, or a psychiatric ward. You're not going to be locked up like an animal." Magnus said, looking harshly at Will, who held his hands up. "We're simply putting you in your room as a protective measure."

I gave a hopeless smirk. "You didn't see him and he just disappeared. You think I'm safe in my room?"

Magnus had a fleeting look of hopelessness on her face. "We'll figure this out. You're safe here." She told me, seeming to square her shoulders.

I nodded. "Yeah, alright. Just let me know when you're gonna lock the door and throw away the key." I told her, before closing the door to my room. I leaned against the door and heard them whisper as they walked away.

I sat back down at my desk, forcing myself to think about how the Prince and the peasant girl end up, instead of how I was seeing and feeling things no one else could see or feel. I just sat there, staring at the page, trying to figure out where to go with the story before I picked up my pen and wrote.

I looked up when there was a knock on the door and I noticed the sun was starting its descent, casting Old City in a glorious array of oranges and pinks. I stood up and opened the door.

Henry stood there, eyes trained on the floor as he kicked the carpet with his shoes. "I owe you an apology."

"No you don't." I told him.

He leaned against the door frame, still not meeting my gaze. "Yeah, I do. I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier."

I shrugged. "It's fine, Henry."

"No. No. Don't do that to me." He said, meeting my gaze for the first time. "Don't just pass it off. I'm sorry."

I set my hand on his shoulder and gave him a gentle smile. "I accept your apology if it'll make you feel better."

"You're not crazy." He said with so much conviction, I had to pause.

"You wanna come in? Or just passing by?" I asked.

"I'd like to come in." He said with a little smile. I stepped back and let him enter before closing the door again. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I've definitely been worse."

He nodded, glancing around the room. "You write?" He asked, spotting my notebook.

"Um. I guess you could call it that. It's how I handled the last six months." I told him, sitting on the bed.

"Could I read it?" He asked, looking over at me.

"It's not very good." I told him. "But if you want to, you can."

He smiled, picking up the leather bound book that Dean had gotten me for a gift. He went back a couple pages, I assumed to start at the beginning of my peasant story.

I stood and moved to the window to watch the sun sink behind the ocean in the distance. Henry sat down on the couch, apparently absorbed in the words. I watched the sun turn yellow, then orange and red from the clouds around it.

The sun had only minutes left in the sky when I heard Henry stand up and walk over to me. His lips moved along with the words and I couldn't help but think of how they'd feel against mine.

"This is really good stuff." He told me, looking up and startling me out of my revere.

"You think so?" I asked, ducking my head before looking out at the sun as it kissed the land goodbye.

"Yeah. I mean, it's no comic book, but it's good." He said with a smile.

I smiled as he handed me the book back. "I need a new one pretty soon." I said, flipping through the last ten blank pages. "Dean told me he'd get me one, but we got side tracked by a hunt and I ran away." I said with a shrug.

He smiled, looking like he was lost in thought. "Who's the Prince?" He asked after a moment.

I looked up at him and his blue eyes were trained on me. "I uh, I'm not sure yet. As long as he can save the peasant girl, I don't think she'd mind." I said, thinking out loud.

He stepped closer to me, watching me carefully. "Why doesn't the peasant girl just save herself? Maybe she's the real hero."

I smiled, ducking my head so I didn't get lost in the depths of his eyes. "No. She's just a peasant after all."

"Do you think she belongs with the Prince?" Henry asked.

I shook my head. "Royalty doesn't fall for common people." I told him, glancing up at him again. I could hardly fathom the expression he gave me.

"Maybe the Prince is slowly falling for the peasant girl?" Henry asked.

I pursed my lips, biting back a comment. "Are you still talking about the story?"

"Weren't you?" He asked, but the notes under his words made me think he was talking about something completely different.

"How does a Prince go about falling for a peasant? There's so many things to work out." I said, trying to remember it was only a story.

"Maybe it just needs to work itself out." Henry told me.

I shook my head, wondering how we'd gotten to talking about this. "So," I said, clearing my throat. "When's dinner? I'm starving."

Henry smiled. "Well, originally, that's what I came up here to tell you," He paused, looking at his watch. "Twelve minutes ago."

I smiled. "To dinner then?"

He held out his elbow to me. "M'lady."

I just smiled and took his elbow as he walked me out of my room and down to the main dining room. Magnus, Will, Ashley and Bigfoot were sitting at the table talking when we came in. Henry discreetly let go of my arm and we sat across from each other at the table.

"You two took a while." Will said suspiciously.

"It's my fault. I asked Henry what he thought of a story I was writing." I told him as everyone started dishing their plates.

"What's it about?" Will asked, glancing to his left at Henry.

"A peasant girl falls in love with a Prince." Henry said for me.

Will nodded and I could have sworn I was going to get some psychologist mumbo-jumbo out of it later.

"So, you're related to that Dean guy?" Ashley asked, trying to sound passive.

"You're so far out of his league, if you looked at him, he wouldn't see straight for a week." I told her, putting a pork chop and some mashed potatoes on my plate.

"Well, ya know. I was just curious." She said.

"He's the kind of narcissist you only need in your life every month or so." I told her.

"Yet you managed to stick around him for six months." Will said.

"You stick around here, despite the fact you obviously have an elevated sense of self." I told him and Henry nearly choked on his food.

Bigfoot chuckled and I saw Ashley duck her head to hide her grin.

"Alright, children. Play nice at the dinner table." Magnus said with a smile.

"But mom. He started it." I mocked.

"As well as that might be," She said, having Will turn to her. "I don't believe the dinner table to be the appropriate outlet for such words."

I shook my head. These people had no idea how different we were, despite the fact we were eating the same food at the same table. I ate in silence, remembering how Sam and Dean would snap at each other over hamburgers and Bud Lights. And then how I'd get thrown into it somehow.

"So, your story." Ashley asked, breaking my train of thought. "Does the Prince fall for the girl?"

"Ya know, I haven't actually got that far yet. Should he?" I asked, being unable to keep from sneaking a glance at Henry.

"Yeah." Ashely said with a smile. "But there has to be some kind of struggle between the two first. Like he's destined to get married to someone else, or her parents arranged to have her move away. Then a happy ever after."

I thought it over while I chewed my potatoes. "I like that. Something bitter to make the end result a little sweeter."

"Exactly!" Ashley said. "Can I read it when you're done?"

"Well considering you gave me half the plot line, I'd be a jerk to say no." I smiled over at her.

Magnus smiled between us. "Blaze, I was wondering if you'd be interested in showing me that pistol flipping trick you did earlier."

"I didn't get to see it." Bigfoot said.

I blinked, looking over at her then the Bigfoot sitting next to me. "Are you serious?"

"Absolutely. I was too quick to judge when I wasn't fully aware of the situation." She said.

"Uh… well, yeah. Sure." I told her.

So we finished dinner and did the dishes all together before we headed down to the firing range. I took out my Beretta and filled the mag with bullets. I grabbed a pair of eye glasses and headphones before firmly closing the bullet proof glass door. I positioned myself the same way I had earlier.

I took a breath and pushed my temperature down. I started spinning the gun in my hand forward, then knocked it to start spinning backwards. I knocked it again to send it forwards; and when it got going, I let it go and flicked my wrist so that it came up over my shoulder.

Instead of racking the slide, I caught it with my left hand before tossing it to my right hand and spinning to again. First forward, then backwards and forwards. I flicked my wrist again, once more sending it to sail over my shoulder, still spinning until it landed in my hand.

Quickly, I racked the slide and emptied five more bullets into the target at the bottom of the range. I laid the gun down and reached up to hit the button to bring the target forward on the rollers. I took off the headphones and glasses, pulling the target free of the rollers.

I hadn't done as well, having two bullets outside of the ten ringer. But when I turned around, I received a round of thumbs ups. I smiled, replacing the gun in my waistband and picking up the protective gear.

"Alright, I am impressed." Magnus said with a little smile. "As long as you're smart about it."

I nodded, handing the glasses and headphones to Henry to put in their respective baskets.

"I suppose it's getting late. I'll see you all in the morning." Magnus said and her and the big guy left.

"Late." Ashley mocked. "Hey mom." She called, jogging after Magnus. "You think we could take Blaze into town? Go to the dance club?"

Magnus stopped in the hallway to turn towards us. "I don't think that would be the best idea."

"C'mon mom. We'll be gone for three hours. And Henry's got a hold of her fire thing if she freaks out." Ashley said.

"I love how eloquently that was put." I said, looking over at Henry, who didn't seem to appreciate the wording either.

Magnus looked back at Henry, Will and I for a moment. "Three hours. If anything happens to her-" Magnus started in.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll get the brunt of it. I know." Ashley said, jogging back to me and hooking her arm in mine. "This is not club attire." She told me, waving to my body.

"I've never been to a club. I don't even think I can dance." I told her, looking at Will and Henry for help.

"Oh, it's easy." Henry said with a smile.

"Impromptu dance lessons." Ashley said with a smile, pulling me towards Henry.

"Do you want to?" He asked.

I thought about it for a moment. "Well, it'd probably help for me to not look like an idiot."

He smiled and pulled me close, arranging my hands where they need to be. "It's just a two step, ok? Super easy." He said, taking his first step.

I wasn't sure how, but I followed along without further instruction. "I've done this before." I said, almost remembering the steps.

"Well obviously because I've never taught anybody who picked it up that fast." He said with a smile as he slowed us to a stop.

"Perfect. Now that you won't look like an idiot, which Will manages every time we go out, onto clothes." Ashley said with a smile. "I'm gonna grab some stuff to change into and I'll bring up some stuff for you to try on. OK?" She asked, but didn't wait for an answer, as she was already jogging off.

"I uh, I guess I'm gonna go get changed." I said, throwing my thumb over my shoulder.

Henry smiled at me as I turned and walked away. Somehow, I had a bad feeling about this…


	8. Don't Hustle a Hustler

I searched through the clothes I had previously thrown into my dresser and found that none of them were 'club attire.' I just had stuff that would be easily replaced if it got blood on it. Some of it still had blood stains.

So I let Ashley in when she knocked and told her about my situation. She had a downcast look, setting a pile of clothes on my bed. "Ok, well, you're barely bigger in size than I am. Let's see if any of this fits you." She said, laying out shirts and pants.

It took us almost half an hour, but we decided I'd wear a black short sleeve shirt that had a long sleeve lace undershirt sewn to it with a nicer pair of my own jeans. I looked at myself in the mirror. "Are you sure this isn't too much?" I asked her.

It showed a little cleavage which was way more than I normally showed off. And it was nothing compared to what Ashley wore; which was a red corset top under black lace.

Ashley smiled at me. "You look like a babe. Henry will drool."

"We aren't… You know… Henry and I aren't…" I said, trying to downplay her comment, but I couldn't seem to get my words in order.

Ashley came over and put a hand on my arm. "I've known Henry my entire life. He's goo-goo over you. It's kinda nice." She said with a smile.

I smiled back. "Yeah?" I asked, running my hand over the lace on my arm.

"Yeah." She smiled. "Ok, let's go. We can clean this up later." She told me, throwing a hand at the pile of unworn clothes. She held open the door and radioed Will that we were on our way down and 'prepare to be astonished.'

Will radioed back some smart ass comment and I smiled. I liked this version of normal, even if it was still far from whatever the real normal was. Ashley and I rode the elevator down to the main floor and rounded the corner into the foyer. I smiled at Ashley before looking towards the guys and stopping.

Henry looked gorgeous. He wore black jeans with a black long sleeve shirt. He had a black and white polka dotted tie under a black and purple pinstripe vest. I was so absorbed in his appearance, I couldn't tell you if Will was wearing pants or not.

"Wow." Henry said, looking me over. "You… you look…" He said, trailing off.

"Yeah. You too. Your tie…" I said, hoping I didn't sound as stupid as I thought I did.

Henry cleared his throat and messed with the knot of his tie. "Lace is a good look on you." He said.

I smiled at ducked my head. "You, uh, you clean up nice Will." I said, knowing full and well it was an afterthought as I glanced over and was relieved that he was indeed wearing pants.

"You too." He just kind of smiled between Henry and I as he held the door open. "Ladies first."

Ashley led the way and I followed, the guys exiting after.

"Dude. Did you see her?" I heard Henry whisper.

"Yeah man. I saw her." Will said.

* * *

We only drove for ten minutes before parking Will's car in a parking garage. We climbed out and Ashley grabbed my hand, pulling me away from the guys. To be honest, I didn't know how to be around girls. I'd only ever been around guys since I got topside. There was one nurse at the clinic who hated my guts. But I'd been around Sam, Dean and Bobby so long, I forgot there was other people out there with boobs.

But I kept pace well with Ashley, and when we got to the door, down the street from the parking garage, Ashley paid for all four of us. I smiled at her as we pushed open the door. The place was huge inside.

Right in front of us was a giant hard wood dance floor. There were a few cowboys doing a slow dance with some skanky looking girls. The pool tables were at the back of the room, off to the left. And the bar was in front of that.

"What do you want to drink?" Ashely called over Georgie Strait's lyrics.

I shrugged. "Bud light."

She nodded and headed for the bar, coming back with four bottled beers. I smiled and nodded towards the back of the room with the pool tables. "You play?"

"Nah, but Will does." Ashley said.

"Yeah?" I asked, looking over at him.

He smiled a little. "I'm not very good."

"Me neither. Play with me?" I asked.

He smiled and nodded, leading the way over to an empty table. He racked up the balls and broke it, scattering the balls along the table. The first game took us about a half hour to play and Will kept rolling his eyes at me. I smiled inside when he won.

"I bet you twenty bucks I win the next game." I told him.

He smirked. "Like you won this one?"

"Yeah." I said with a smile.

"You're on." He said.

The second game, however, I beat him by a mile. He looked confused as he dug in his pocket for the money. "How'd you do that?"

"Don't hustle a hustler." I said with a wink as I pocketed his money.

Henry whooped and laughed, and Ashley high fived me. She turned around with a grin. "Oh my god! I love this song!" She said, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the dance floor where the hip hop music was playing.

We danced like complete idiots for nearly twenty minutes until I told her I needed a drink. I stumbled over to the bar with a smile. "Four long necks." I called to the bartender, who nodded and went about collecting the brew.

"Can I buy you a drink?" A tall biker guy asked.

I smiled over at him. "No thanks. Don't do charity." I told him, handing the barkeep the twenty I'd got from Will and when he handed me back my change, I took the beers over to the guys who sat at a table.

"You two look like you're having a lot of fun." I said sarcastically as I set the bottles down.

"Loads." Will said with a smile as he took a beer.

I glanced up to see Ashley on the dance floor, holding some cowboy close as Chris Ledoux played in the background. I took a sip of my beer, wondering why Will didn't ask her to dance. "We're like the losers at the prom that watch all the other kids dance."

"Dance with me?" Henry asked.

I looked over at him and he was watching me carefully. I smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."

"Well, then that makes Will the loser at prom." He said with a smile as he stood up and took my hand.

Henry held me close as we danced in circles.

"Thank you." I told him.

"For what? The dance? It's no problem." He said with a smile.

"No, for everything. I know it doesn't seem like much, but this means a lot to me. I appreciate it." I told him.

He just gave me a smile. "Then you're welcome." He said as the song ended.

I smiled and we went back to the table to find Ashley grinning like a little kid. "Oh my gosh. Did you see him? He was a dream boat."

I giggled. "Yeah, if it belonged to Ken and Barbie."

Her smile fell. "What?"

I smirked. "Dude, plastic surgery scars on his cheeks and forehead. And his boots have never seen mud, or gravel for that matter."

"Are you serious?" Ashley asked, looking over at Will.

"I tried to tell ya." He said with a shrug.

She looked incredibly disappointed.

"C'mon. Dance with me and you won't even remember his name." I told her with a smile.

She gave me a little smirk as she stood up and we danced our hearts out on the dance floor. The slow songs started again. Someone else asked her to dance and I wandered back over to the pool tables.

"You play?" Some guy asked me as I ran my hand over the velvet.

"Oh ya know. Once in a while." I told him.

"Wanna play with me?" He asked with a cocky smile. "I'll even give you the first round free."

I smiled as Henry came over to lean against another table. "Well, that's awful nice of you." I told him.

He smiled and set the balls up. He hammered me the first game and I pretended to take the loss with some grace. "Ok, ok. Don't hold back on me now. Fifty bucks says you beat me. If you lose, you don't owe me nothin' but a kiss."

"Aw? Really?" I asked with a big smile. He nodded. I looked over my shoulder. "Did ya hear him, Henry? He's gonna give me a break."

Henry tried to play down his smile. "That's nice of him."

"Your boyfriend?" The man asked with a smirk.

"Maybe. What's it to you?" I asked as he set up the balls again.

He shrugged. "I was just wondering how you like your eggs in the morning." He said with a wink as he scattered the balls and gestured to me.

I smiled, nailing the first ball in the slot. "Not fertilized." I told him, moving to get my next shot.

He was pale when I finished up and hadn't given him a turn yet.

"I seem to remember something about fifty dollars?" I asked, hanging up my pool cue.

He cussed me out as he handed me the money.

"Dude, I wouldn't do that." Henry called over and I looked at him confusedly. "I'm serious, dude." Henry said again. I turned around just as his friend slapped my ass.

My instincts kicked in and I punched him square in the nose. He reeled back, blood splattering from his nose. I whirled around to kick him in the stomach and he went down hard.

Henry stood up and came over to put his arm across my shoulders. "Ya know, that's a lot nicer than I was gonna do to him."

"Now baby. You know we don't need another police scene like that last time." I said, playing it up.

"Yeah, but it's so much fun to explain the missing body parts to the cops." Henry said with a passive look.

I smiled. "I know babe. But we aren't supposed to be getting in trouble anymore."

And the guy I'd been playing pool with took off so fast, he stumbled over a bar stool.

"Haven't seen a guy run that fast since senior homecoming." Will said as he walked over to us.

"What's with the blood rag?" Ashley asked.

"Slapped my ass so I broke his nose." I told her, Henry's arm still resting across my shoulder.

"Nice. You broke it good too, judging by the amount of blood." Ashley said.

"Dance with me?" I asked, turning to look at Henry as a slow song came on.

"Thought you'd never ask." He said with a smile, leading me to the dance floor.

Will apparently got up the nerve to ask Ashley to dance because they followed us to the dance floor. I smiled at Henry as he pulled me close and danced me in circles. "What are you thinking about?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "I always think about a lot of things."

"Name three." I challenged and he smiled.

"My computer system, where I've heard this music before and you." He told me.

I smiled. "Why your computer system?"

"That was an odd first choice." He said, looking at me funny. "Well, I built the system. I'm not usually away from it for a long time."

"Your baby." I said with a smile and he nodded. "And the music?"

"I've heard this song before and it's going to drive me crazy that I don't remember where." Henry said, drawing his eyebrows together. It was an unpleasant look on his handsome features.

"And me?" I asked, ducking my head a little.

He sighed a little. "Everything."

"Oh? Everything, huh?" I asked.

He grinned. "That shirt looks really good on you. And your eyes glow really pretty under the black light."

I blushed, ducking my head so I didn't have to look him in the eyes. "Well, thank you." I said, not sure what else to say.

We danced another set of dances until we realized it was getting late. Henry held my hand as we left the bar and I liked that Will stood close to Ashley. They definitely had a thing going on. We were about to turn the corner when two guys in ski masks jumped out, holding switch blades. I had to resist the urge to laugh.

"We want your jewelry and your wallets." They said.

Out of all of us, Will was the only one that looked worried. I couldn't help myself and I looked over at Ashley. "Did they seriously bring a knife to a gun fight?"

She giggled. "Can you believe I was thinking the same thing?"

"Jewelry! Wallets!" They yelled.

"How about, put your knives down and we'll let you live?" I asked with a smile.

One took a step, coming at me with the knife. I grabbed his hand and twisted it back, making him drop the knife and cry in pain. Ashley had the other one in the same position.

"Why are guys stupid enough to not listen?" Ashley asked, taking off the ski mask of the guy she had on the ground.

"I don't know, but it's annoying." I said, pulling off mine's ski mask.

"Now, if you could run along home and tell your little buddies a couple girls beat you up, we'll bid you goodnight." Ashley said with a smile, throwing the one she held on the ground. I did much of the same to mine.

"Dude." Henry said with this star struck look.

"What?" I asked. "Nobody comes at me with a knife."

"We see that." Will said with a smile as we continued back to the car.

* * *

When we reached the foyer, Will and Ashely went their separate ways. I looked over at Henry, feeling suddenly tired. "Thank you for tonight." I told him.

"You want me to walk you to your room?" He asked.

"I'd love that." I told him.

He kept hold of my hand as he walked me through the hallways. "I had a good night."

I smiled. "I'm glad. It would've been terrible if you hadn't."

"Terrible?" Henry asked.

"I hate having fun when somebody else isn't." I told him.

He nodded like he understood as we got in the elevator. "Gonna sleep tonight?" He asked.

"Not if I can help it." I told him.

He looked as if he disapproved. "You should get some rest."

I shook my head. "I don't want to put out any fires tomorrow."

He turned to me. "What can I do to help?"

I paused, thinking. "I'm not sure there's anything you can do to help."

He pursed his lips. "There has to be a way for you to control it while you sleep."

I shrugged. "I have no idea what it would be."

He pushed the button for the floor below mine and the elevator stopped. He gently tugged on my hand. "I'm gonna see if I can set something up."

"Like what?" I asked him, following next to him.

"There's a machine we use for hibernating abnormals to monitor brain waves. I think I can tweak it to monitor your brain waves while you sleep and then we can see if we can do something to help." Henry told me.

"Don't you need to tell Magnus or something?" I asked him.

"She already said she wanted to start some kind of monitoring. I'm just taking the incentive." He said with a smile.

I shook my head at him. He let go of my hand when we got to the computer lab and he searched for a moment for something. He pulled out a thing that looked like a lamp light out of one of the bins of electronics. "What's that?" I asked, as he started tweaking it.

"I haven't come up with a good name for it yet, but it's the only non-invasive way we can monitor the brain activity of hibernating abnormals. I made it like a book light so that we could attach it above where they were sleeping and it wouldn't bother them." Henry explained.

I nodded, not entirely sure about this.

"Oh, Henry. Blaze. I wasn't aware you were back. How was your evening out?" Magnus asked, coming around the corner into the lab.

"It was great. We had a lot of fun." Henry said with a smile, glancing at me.

"Well, I'm glad then. I was wondering if you could recalibrate the EM shield. It seems to be fluctuating a bit." Magnus said.

"Uh, yeah sure Doc." Henry said, moving away from the book light to his computer.

"Hello darling." I heard and turned to see Crowley standing against the back wall.

Sam told me about when he got out of Hell, that Lucifer hung around in his head. He'd follow Sam around and make him look like he was going crazy. And Sam was the only person who could see him.

I turned around, trying to focus on anything else.

"Are you alright?" Magnus asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Yes, deary. Are you alright? Maybe you want to take a break and shoot something?" Crowley's voice came from over my shoulder.

"No, I'm good. I dunno. I just got really tired." I told her, trying to figure out a way to make this easier.

"Are you sure? There's six bullets left in the clip in your gun. Maybe you should let go of them." Crowley said.

Shooting had always been a release to help me manage. But that was the last thing I needed right now.

It was hard not to talk back to him. It was hard to ignore him.

"Blaze?" Henry asked and I looked up at him. "You don't look so good."

"Me? Yeah, no. I'm all good." I said, trying my best to smile.

"He doesn't believe you darling." Crowley said, appearing almost next to my left arm. "He thinks you're lying. Which you are, of course."

Henry just looked at me. "Your heart rate is insane."

I gave a nervous laugh. Of course part of his enhanced senses could pick that up. "No, me? I'm all good. I'm just gonna go up to my room." I told him, nodding to Magnus as I turned and left the computer lab.

"Oh darling. You make this too easy." Crowley cooed with a smirk as I hit the button for the elevator.

"You sure you're ok?" Henry asked, sticking his head out of the lab.

"Yeah, fine." I said, climbing into the elevator and pressing the close doors button.

And of course, Bigfoot had to ride the elevator with me.

"What a big hairy man. I wander if he gets around much." Crowley said and I felt like a dog raising its hackled.

"Are you alright?" Biggie asked.

"Me? Yeah, awesome." I said, trying to somehow zone out my inner demon king.

"Your heart rate is high." He told me.

"Yes, darling. Your heart rate is high. Is it from thinking about all the things you'd do to the big guy?" Crowley smirked.

I blew out a breath. "Had a good night out. I just want to go rest now." I told Biggie, trying to ignore the bald Scottish man.

Biggie hit the stop button on the elevator and we paused in between levels. _Oh for the love of God…_ "What's wrong?" He asked.

"She wants you in the sack, mate. It's hard for her to ignore, really." Crowley said, almost leaning over my shoulder.

I took a deep breath and blew it out, failing to zone him out. "I'm having issues, ok? I don't know what's going on and I just need to get away from people for like, thirty seconds to figure this out." I told Biggie.

"Oh, but dear. You know exactly what's going on." Crowley whispered in my ear and I could almost feel his breath brush my skin.

I could feel my nerve breaking down. "Please. Just… just let me out of the elevator."

"Biggie? Are you in the main elevator?" Henry's voice came on the intercom.

"Yes." Biggie said back.

"Dude, why'd you stop moving? Is everything ok? I saw Blaze get in that elevator." Henry said, sounding slightly worried.

"She's fine. We were just talking." Biggie said, hitting the button to make the elevator keep moving.

"Oh yes, you are fine. Maybe take him to the sack too? Biggie can join later." Crowley echoed.

"Your heart rate is going up again." Biggie informed me as the elevator opened up.

I barely heard him, breezing down the hallway to my room. I opened and closed the door, hoping somehow to keep the King of Hell out. But I couldn't be nearly so lucky.


	9. What's a Little Hell Fire?

**[Author's Note: So. Last week, I had a reader go through and read what i had currently updated and had some questions about my Supernatural verse and how a couple of things in my verse worked. So I'm here to set the record straight so you all might be able to operate around the story better. **

**About chapter three; I was lacking imagination on naming the spider, and nerd references always fair well.**

**My basic thought for this 'verse' was everything happened in this story the way it would happen in the show, except for just a few things. Bobby is my favorite character besides Sam and Dean. I couldn't let him die. And he's a great help. Also, I'm nixing the bit about Cas taking in the Leviathans. I'm thinking they escaped through some worm hole a Witch created while trying to preform a blood ritual with a friend... or something. Cas has been around and helping and such, but he's been pretty MIA since Dean's gotten out of Purgatory. Cas and Blaze have never met. Dean has never even mentioned him. And because of the whole 'Cas not trying to be God thing', Balthazar is still alive. (I need him for later if this continues on.)**

**That's basically my Supernatural / Sanctuary cross-verse.**

**About chapter four; to be fair, Dean has had a tendency to go off the reservation when monsters are involved. (S7E3. Amy was a monster, but she was being a monster mom, not a mass murdering monster.) I believe Dean to have a very blurred sense of direction upon the 'good' and 'bad' of things.**

**About chapter five; It is with a heavy heart I inform all my readers that I have not seen season 9 of Supernatural. I don't have television and only have access to my DVD collection including all 8 seasons. So anything I write Supernatural related is all based on or before season 8.**

**About chapter six; I live in a very rural community and I am proficient at shooting whether it be a rifle, handgun or a compound bow. (Shotguns and I don't get along.) I have heard many terms for 'ear muffs', including 'hearing protection', 'headphones', 'ear defenders', and 'earplugs', which can all refer to a device protecting your ears from extreme noise, such as gun shots and construction equipment. In my part of the country, we call them headphones. :)**

**About chapter seven; I was theorizing that with the black lace on her arms, it'd be difficult to pick out any one scar. And dance clubs don't exactly have the best lighting, even around the pool tables.**

**And please, if you have any questions; do not hesitate to ask. If I can't give a solid reason, I'm a fool for writing it and will change it. :) ]**

* * *

"C'mon old gal. Just talk to me a bit." Crowley said.

It'd been a week. A week of torture and bleeding walls and distant screams of people I couldn't help. He was driving me crazy. I didn't remember the last time I'd eaten or slept. And the fires were getting worse. I would randomly light something on fire and not even known I'd done it until I could smell the smoke.

I hadn't even left my room in three days, which was a mess. There were burnt spots on everything. People would knock on the door and ask if I was ok, but I'd barricaded myself in the room. Crowley refused to leave me alone to even pee.

I'd huddled myself under the bed, trying to cover my ears with pillows and blankets to block out the sound of his voice, but it wasn't working. I could still hear him clear as day.

So when I heard the knock on the door, I cuddled closer to my pillow and prayed they went away. "Blaze?" Will's voice called. "Blaze? Are you in here?"

"Oh darling. A new toy." Crowley smirked at me before he blinked away.

This was my first red flag, as Crowley hadn't blinked away since the night we'd gone to the dance club.

"Blaze?" Will asked again and I saw his feet come closer to the edge of the bed and kneel down. I didn't know how he'd gotten past the crap I'd piled in front of the door, but he had.

I screamed, pushing away from him. His eyes weren't their normal brown, but instead solid black. He'd been possessed and that was bad. Crowley not leaving me alone, that was one thing. This black eyed cretin could actually inflict damage to me.

"Blaze? What's wrong?" Will asked, his face concerned despite his demon eyes.

I whimpered. "Just go away."

"Blaze, what do you see? It's just me, Will." He said, almost laying down to reach his hand out to me.

"You think I'm stupid? I've seen a demon before, dumbass. Just leave me alone." I said, moving farther away from him.

"Blaze. Come here. I want to help you." He said and suddenly his eyes were brown again.

"Oh yes, he wants to help you Blaze." Crowley said, wiggling his eyebrows.

I didn't even think, I just reacted. I kicked at Will as hard as I could; my boot connecting with his face. As fast as I could, I slid out from under the bed and ran for the door. Crowley was one thing, demons were another. I bypassed the elevator, running as fast as I could. I swung around and ran down a level of stairs, almost running into Ashley as I pushed open the door.

"Blaze. Are you ok? What's wrong?" She asked, looking worried.

"Will's possessed." I told her.

"Will? What? How? We have the EM shields up." Ashley said.

"I- I don't know. But he's possessed by a demon." I told her as Will came down the stairs, eyes looking normal.

"Blaze, why did you run from me? I was just trying to talk to you." He said, then seemed to notice Ashley. "Hey. What were you talking about?"

"She says you're possessed." Ashley said, looking at Will like he'd give a real answer.

I thought about it for a moment. I needed a rosary. Where could I find a rosary? Biggie. He went to the Catholic church down the road. I took off running. I knew he lived on a lower level, but I didn't know where exactly.

Luckily I almost literally ran into him on the floor below. "Biggie. Do you have a rosary?" I asked.

He looked wary of me. "Why are you out of breath?"

"Running. Good for the health and all that." I told him.

"We have an exercise room." He said.

We were wasting so much time. "Rosary, yes or no?"

He eyed me oddly, but dug into his pocket and held out the catholic necklace.

"You're a life saver." I said, turning and seeing Will jog towards us. "Fuck." I said, dashing around the corner. I easily found the kitchen and filled up a pitcher of water, glancing over my shoulder as the doorway every few seconds.

I dropped the rosary in the water and prayed I could remember all of the Latin Bobby tried to teach me. "Benedico te, creatura aquae, in nomine Dei Patris omnipotentis, et in virtute Spiritus Sancti."

"Blaze? What are you doing?" Henry asked.

"Saving your life." I told him, seeing Will come down the hallway, looking mildly pissed.

"I'm glad I found you. She's been running around like a crazy-" Will said, but stopped, seeing the pitcher I held.

"Crazy? You wanna see crazy?" I asked, him, taking the rosary out and throwing the pitcher on him.

He screamed as smoke came off him and the water burnt his skin.

"What the hell is that?" Henry yelled.

"I told you I wasn't crazy!" I said, taking his hand and running down the hall. "Where's the main water tank?"

He didn't say anything, just led the way down towards the basement. Dammit. I should have grabbed the salt from the kitchen. We'd just have to go back for it.

"Oh honey. Where oh where, is my most tortured fire starter?" I heard Will's voice from somewhere behind us.

I took a deep breath as we stopped.

"This is the main water tank." Henry told me, looking around.

I threw in the rosary, watching it sink to the bottom. "Benedico te, creatura aquae, in nomine Dei Patris omnipotentis, et in virtute Spiritus Sancti."

"I didn't know you knew Latin." Henry said.

"Well, to my credit, you never asked." I told him, seeing Will come around the corner at the end of the hall. "Stand back." I told him, pushing him away from me. I stood under the sprinkler system as Will charged at us.

I let the panic seep into my chest and I could feel my blood start to boil until the fire burst out onto my arm. The smoke instantly set off the sprinklers, dousing Henry and I, making Will burn.

"Magnus, come in!" Henry said into his com system as we took off running in the opposite direction as the smoking Will.

"What's wrong Henry?" Magnus called back.

"Will's possessed by a demon. We need to regroup. We're coming up from the lower level." He told her.

"Alright. Ashley, did you catch that?" Magnus called.

"Loud and clear. I'm gonna find Biggie. We'll meet in the lab." Ashley said.

"Too late for the salt. The water will hold him off until we get a game plan." I said, more to myself than to Henry.

We stopped around a corner to catch our breath. "What can I do to help?" Henry asked.

I thought, looking around. "I need a piece of carpet. A really big rug that can be spray painted." I told him.

He looked confused. "Uh, there's one on the next level up in the middle of the hall."

"Ok, I'll grab that. I don't know where you store crap. We need like four or five cans of spray paint or something." I told him.

He nodded. "Yeah, ok. I can do that. Take my radio. I'll grab one from the lab." He told me, turning for a second before turning back to me. "Be careful."

I nodded and took off running. I easily found the rug, but as it was big and older than me, I struggled with carrying it into the main lab.

As soon as Biggie and Henry saw me struggling, they helped carry it the rest of the way. I flipped it over and autopilot took over as I grabbed the can of spray paint and drew the devil's trap on the bottom of the rug. I stood up and Biggie helped me flip it back over.

"This is a long shot." I said, looking up at Ashley and Magnus. "We're going to have to pray demon Will is way less observant than human Will." I told him, sliding one edge of the carpet under the work bench so it looked like it belonged there.

I pulled two necklaces out of my pocket, relieved that they were still there. "I've been carrying these all week. Put them on. They're anti-possession necklaces." I told them as I held them out to Magnus and Ashley.

"Monsters can't get possessed, no offense." I said, looking at Henry and Biggie.

"What about you? Are you not protected?" Magnus asked, looking worried.

I coughed, pulling down the collar of my dirty shirt to show the four of them the anti-possession tattoo below my collar bone on the left side. "The tattoo comes with the glow-in-the-dark decoder ring."

Henry had a funny little smirk on his face. "That's hot."

"It's gonna be real hot when I rip it off your chest." Will's voice floated from the opening of the room. His skin was singed all over and he looked royally pissed off.

As part of my plan, I stepped back, hoping he'd think I was scared. He blinked out and blinked back in front of me, gripping my throat tightly.

I gasped, shocked at the sudden loss of breath as he lifted me off the ground. "Don't shoot." I choked, waving off Ashley as she raised her Jericho.

"Oh that's right. I'm wearing your friend. I forgot." The demon smiled through Will's lips. "Wouldn't want to hurt this fine packaging."

I coughed as his grip tightened. I saw Biggie move towards us when a ring of fire sprang up and circled us.

"Blaze!" Henry called over the roar of the new fire.

"Do you want to know what the shrink thinks of you? Hmm, pretty girl? Well, for starters, he's confused why you haven't made out with the tech wiz yet. And can I just say that it's an honor being in the presence of a monster with such self-control?" Will said, turning to smile broadly at Henry.

I took this distraction to swing my legs up and push against his stomach. We both fell over and I scrambled to my feet. I went to run past the fire but it burnt my leg, sending searing pain up to my hip.

"Ya like that? The only fire you're not immune to. That's hell fire, baby." Will smirked at me, flashing black eyes to show how pissed he was.

He reached and grabbed a handful of hair and turning me painfully to face the others. If only he'd take one step forward, he'd be locked in the Devil's trap. "So what do you think of the new addition? Isn't she just a peach?" Will asked, pulling harder on my hair.

"Guys. Get out of here." I told them, trying to blink away the tears as they formed.

Magnus and Ashley looked worried, like they should be doing something to help but they didn't know what.

"Oh no. Please. Stay for the show." Will said, taking my wrist in his strong hand and pushing it into the fire.

I bit down on my lip, keeping myself from crying out.

"What? No scream?" He asked, pulling my hand out of the fire.

"Blaze!" Henry called, reaching for me despite the fire. Biggie had his hand on Henry's shoulder, holding him back and I was grateful.

"You're not the first dumbass to burn me." I said, elbowing him in the side and lurching forward for my troubles.

But as luck would have it, when Will stumbled forward, he fell into the devil's trap.

I took a breath, hoping I could remember the Latin the boys tried to teach me. "Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus omnis satanica potestas, omnis aditus infernalis adversarii, omnis legio omnis congregatio et secta diabolica." I started from the floor.

The demon just smiled at me. "I think you just said every portal, instead of every incursion. But nice try."

I tried to remember. "Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus omnis incúrsio sátanæ, flos omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio omnis congregatio et secta diabolica."

The demon laughed at me. "You're as bad at Latin as you are at computers. Did you know that the shrink thinks you're pathetic? Oh, and he's still pretty sure you're lying about seeing Crowley. Which obviously you aren't or else I wouldn't be here." Will grinned at me.

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursion infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica. Ergo draco maledicte et omnis legio diabolica adjuramus te. Cessa decipere humanas creaturas, eisque aeternae Perditionis venenum propinare." I heard and looked over to see Magnus reciting Latin like she was reading out of the book. She continued, the demon inside Will looking pained as she got near the end, the hell fire disappearing.

Black smoke filled the room and Magnus continued her tirade as I caught Will's body before it collapsed. The first part of the incantation was always the rid to body of the demon. The second part was to send it back to Hell. And I was amazed when Magnus finished the Latin and the floor looked charred from the smoke going into the ground.

"Will, are you ok?" I asked him as he moved his head to the side.

He looked confused as to why he was on the floor. I propped him into a sitting position as Magnus kneeled down next to him and took his vitals. Then his eyes went wide. "I believe you." He said, looking over at me.

"Yeah. You're getting a tattoo." I told him, pulling down the collar of my shirt to show him.

He looked hesitant, but nodded.

"Your hand." Biggie said.

I had completely forgotten about it. I hissed at the feeling of my burnt flesh. "Haven't felt that sensation in a long time." I murmured, bracing myself against the pain.

Biggie and Henry helped me off the ground and onto an examination table as Magnus and Ashley looked over Will.

I bit my lip against the pain as Biggie gently pulled back my pant leg. I almost jumped when Henry took my hand in his and told me to squeeze. I barely did, not wanting the pain and pressure to spontaneously light me on fire.

"You squeeze like a girl." Henry told me.

I laughed. "That explains everything." I told him, clenching my eyes closed and arching my back against the table to try to ease the pain as Biggie rubbed something on my leg.

"Squeeze my hand. I'm strong. You won't hurt me." He told me, his voice like cool water on my skin.

I let out a rough breath, turning my head to look at where Will sat on an examining table about fifteen feet away. "Is he alright?" I asked, looking up at Henry.

"Yeah, yeah he should be fine." Henry told me.

I nodded as Biggie came to stand next to me. I held out my hand that wasn't occupied by Henry.

"These burns will take a long time to heal." He warned me, rubbing something on my arm.

I closed my eyes tightly as my jaw clenched and my fingers dug into Henry's skin. "I'm sorry." I said, tilting my head to look up at him.

He smiled down at me. "You're fine, alright? It's all good."

"How are you?" Magnus asked, coming to stand next to the big guy.

"They ain't got me yet, doc." I said.

"You weren't crazy." Will said, coming to stand next to Henry and Ashley.

I laughed, then gritted my teeth as Biggie wrapped my arm in gauze. "Hey. What's some hell fire for family?" I asked rhetorically as Biggie and Henry helped me stand up.

"So the hell fire is the only thing that can burn you?" Henry asked me.

"Hell fire burns any living thing. That's why demons use it, because it doesn't hurt them. Meat suits like me, we fry up like a slab of bacon." I told him.

"I can't believe you survived a burn like that." Ashley told me.

"Not the first burn scar I've got." I said, standing gingerly on my leg.

"I'll take you back to your room." Henry told me.

"It's trashed. My psychosis had some more psychical side effects." I said, with an apologetic smile to Magnus.

Magnus nodded like she understood. "Henry, put her up in a new room. We'll have her things moved tomorrow morning."

"Sure thing doc." Henry said, wrapping his arm around my waist to relieve the weight from that side of my body. He led me out of the room and around to the elevator. When the doors slid open, he helped me limp in.

The ride up was quiet and I hated it.

"I'm sorry." Henry said quietly.

"For what?" I asked, mildly surprised at his statement.

He looked guilty when he turned his head to look at me. "I should have believed you. I'm sorry."

I shrugged the best I could. "It's fine, Henry."

His hand gripped a little tighter at my waist. "I'm sorry." He said, with a surprising amount of sincerity.

I nodded. "Yeah, ok. You're forgiven if that's what you want to hear."

The elevator slowed to a stop and the doors slid open. Henry helped me limp out before he stopped me. I turned to him, confused. In one smooth swoop, he put a hand behind my knees and back and picked me up bridal style.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"You're slow." He said with a little smile.

"I'm also injured." I told him in disbelief.

"Exactly. So I'm helping you out." He told me, carrying me down the hall.

"I'm trying to decide if you're sweet or impatient." I told him as he rounded a corner.

"Why not both?" He asked.

I smiled a little, laying my head on his shoulder. "Both works." I smiled.

We walked in silence until we came to a door. Henry opened it with ease, despite barely disrupting me. Gently, he laid me on the bed and glanced around.

The room was similar in appearance to my other one. "Are you alright?" Henry asked.

I looked up at him. "Uh, yeah. Yeah I'm fine." I told him, not wanting to tell him how I wanted him to stay.

He watched me. "Oh really?"

I wondered if he could hear my erratic heartbeat. "Yeah, I'm just really tired." I told him. "Crowley didn't allow me much sleep."

Henry nodded. "Would you feel better if I stayed here?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat and diverted my eyes. "No, you don't have to."

He kneeled on the floor so that he was even height with me. "Do you want me to stay?" He asked softly.

It took me a moment, but I was finally able to nod my head yes.

Henry smiled at me and laid down on the bed, his arm barely touching mine. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

I nearly snorted and shook my head at him. A lot harder than he'd thought it was. "Are you ever going to tell me what are you?" I asked, trying to redirect the attention away from me.

"That depends." He told me.

I quirked an eyebrow. "Depends on what, exactly?"

Henry smiled. "How badly you want to know."

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked him with a smile.

"Well, if you want to know really bad, then I don't want to tell you too soon." He said, re adjusting himself on the bed.

I nodded. "In that case, I'm mildly curious."

He smiled. "If you're only mildly curious, then there's no reason for me to tell you."

I smiled and shook my head. "Fine."

"What? Not gonna fight for it?" He asked with a smirk.

I shook my head at him, carefully watching his eyes. "I can tell you don't really want to tell me. And that's fine. If I'd met you some other way, I wouldn't have wanted to tell you that I can light myself on fire." I shrugged.

He smirked a little. He nodded. "Yeah, I guess I can get that."

I yawned, suddenly feeling really tired.

"Go to sleep." He told me quietly.

I smiled at him, closing my eyes. "Will you just stay until I fall asleep?" I asked him.

"Of course." Henry told me, gently running his thumb over my forehead.


	10. Strait Jackets are in Style

My skin felt like it was getting burnt off of me. It felt like it was on fire. I couldn't forget the feeling; it was ingrained in my memory. I screamed and thrashed against my bonds, but the room was dark except for a glowing red light that seemed to illuminate Henry's face.

But it wasn't Henry. Not really. His eyes glowed bright orange in the red light bathing him. He almost looked like he was covered in blood. He noticed me awake and stated to move towards me. Slowly, I realized that despite the unknown light, Henry _was_ covered in blood. He slowly started to grin at me as my eyes adjusted to the new light.

I was in some kind of top that just covered my breasts and a pair of shorts just big enough to cover my butt. There were maybe six or seven cuts across my chest and stomach; all deep and long, and there were hand prints all over my body like someone had played in the blood.

"Someone had to do something about your disobedience." Henry said with a smile as he casually showed me the blood that covered his hands.

"Henry…" I said, barely able to breathe.

"It was a lot of fun too, cutting you up. The most fun I had though, was licking it off your body." He said with a wicked smile before he licked the blood off his fingers.

"Blaze?" Henry asked, except the red glowing light and the blood was gone.

Panic set in and I pushed away from him, falling off the bed. I hissed in pain as my left arm and right leg made contact with the hardwood floor. "Fuck. Son of a bitch." I groaned, letting the pain make me forget why I had fallen out of bed in the first place.

"Blaze!" Henry said, getting off the bed and coming around to kneel on the floor next to me.

This was enough to remind me why I'd fallen off the bed. Painfully, I clenched my jaw and scooted away from him. "No. Stay." I somehow managed, backing up against my nightstand.

Henry looked confused. "Blaze, it's me."

"I know it's you." I said through clenched teeth. The pain felt like it was filling up my organs. "That's the problem."

Before I could move away, Henry gripped my hand tightly, looking worried. "This is real."

I let out a breath, slumping against the nightstand. "So much pain."

"Magnus? Magnus, come in." Henry said into his radio.

"Yes Henry?" Magnus answered back.

"Blaze is awake. She's in a lot of pain." Henry said.

"I'm on my way up." Magnus said.

"What are the dreams about?" Henry asked, looking over at me carefully.

I shook my head, trying to brace against the pain, but it was starting to consume me. It was all I could focus on.

Henry sat down next to me, gripping my hand pretty tight, but I barely felt it.

"How about those Giants?" I asked, in a halfhearted attempt to get my mind off the pain.

"You watch football?" Henry asked.

I nodded. "When I'm not hunting monsters." I told him. "Fuck, abnormals."

"You can call me whatever you want as long as you don't die." Henry told me and I could feel him squeeze my hand a little harder.

"The Giants suck. Anyone with the last name of Manning is an idiot." I said, trying to think normally. "The Eagles and Ravens don't totally suck. I usually vote for the Packers or whoever plays against the Cowboys."

"So would this be a bad time to tell you I don't watch sports?" Henry said with a nervous chuckle as my door opened and Magnus came into view.

"How's she holding up?" She asked.

"I think she's going into shock, doc." Henry said, looking concerned.

"I didn't have this problem below ground." I told them as my vision started to fade at the edges.

Magnus stuck a syringe in a drip bag and told Henry to hold it up as she pushed the IV into my arm.

I didn't even feel it, struggling to feel Henry's hand as the numbness crept into my body. "Hell fire's a bitch."

"I believe that would be correct." Magnus said, opening a bottle of Gatorade and tipping my head back to pour some down my throat.

"How's Will?" I asked, struggling against the pain.

"He's fine. A few minor injuries. He'll be fully recovered in a day." Magnus said, working away at something in her med kit.

And all at once, whatever Magnus put in the IV killed my pain and everything went numb.

"What… what…" I asked, my head tipping to the side as my eyes closed tight.

I woke to the sound of beeping. I was in a hospital bed in a room with a giant glass window. Crowley leaned against the glass on my side of the window, smirking at me.

"So you bested my demon with the help of the nice doctor. I wasn't informed she could speak Latin. I'll know better for next time." He said in his accent.

I rolled my eyes and saw Biggie coming from the other side of the glass. He tapped a code in and the door opened for him.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

I glanced over at Crowley in the corner, before rolling away from him and Biggie. "Fine."

"You're not fine. You're locked in an examination room because you hear the voice of the King of Hell and you light things on fire." Crowley said.

"Are you hungry?" Biggie asked.

I shook my head, just wanting the silence back.

"Henry's worried about you. You've been unconscious for almost a day." Biggie said.

"Mmm. Does that get your lady bits all tingly, the beasty boy worrying about you?" Crowley asked and I just closed my eyes.

"Is he here again? The bald Scottish man?" Biggie asked, taking a glance around the room.

"You can stop humoring me. It doesn't help." I told him.

When Biggie set his hand on my shoulder, I was mildly startled. "You've been through much worse than voices."

I nodded, looking up at him. "I'm a little hungry."

Biggie smiled at me. "I'll have Henry bring you food."

I nodded, turning my back to the door and Crowley. I just laid there for a few minutes, Crowley snipping off a comment here and there. When the door opened again, I didn't think about it. Crowley could make me hear or see whatever he wanted.

"How are you feeling?" Henry asked and I rolled over a little to look at him.

"The burning isn't as bad. It still hurts though." I told him, giving a small wave to Magnus, Ashley, and Will outside the glass.

"Magnus says the burns will hurt for a couple more days before it gets better." He said with an apologetic look.

I nodded. "I'm sure I can manage."

"I'm sure you can more than manage with wolf boy." Crowley said with a smirk.

I took a breath and blew it out, briefing glaring at the corner he stood in. What was he talking about, wolf boy?

"Is he here?" Henry asked, looking worried.

"No, it's fine." I told him, holding my hands out for the food tray.

When he set it in my lap, I screamed, seeing maggots and worms crawling in the bowl. Out of sheer instinct, I threw the tray. But when it landed upside down on the concrete floor, it was just mashed potatoes and gravy.

"What's wrong?" Henry asked, looking concerned.

I felt so helpless. It was obviously mashed potatoes and gravy on the floor. But it had been maggots when it sat in my lap. "I… I thought it was maggots." I told him quietly, pulling my knees up to my chest.

"Hey. It's gonna be ok." Henry said, sitting down and running his hand over my back.

"I'm sure he's real good at comforting you, love." Crowley smirked and winked.

I put my hands over my ears. "I don't want to hear this anymore. Just go away." I mumbled, closing my eyes tightly.

Thankfully, Henry's hand never left my back, rubbing small circles over my skin until I fell back asleep.

I was confused when I woke up. I didn't know where I was. I couldn't remember having any nightmares. How had I not had a nightmare? Every time I fell asleep there was a nightmare. I was still in the same room as before when I woke up, but Crowley wasn't in the corner.

After a few minutes of mild confusion, Henry and Biggie came through the door smiling.

I watched them warily, wondering if this was the nightmare.

"I figured out who you are." Henry said with a smile.

I blinked, just waiting for blood to start dripping down the walls or something to explode that didn't really explode.

"Karsen Winters." Henry said with a proud smile, puffing out his chest just a little bit.

I couldn't help it; I laughed. "What? You can't be serious?"

Henry nodded. "You lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan; you drove a 1993 Nissan Skyline, and you've been missing for five years." Henry said, his brightness dimming a bit. "Your parents died when you were little and your only surviving aunt claimed you dead after you'd been gone for two years."

I sat there, considering what he'd just told me.

"Do you need a minute?" Biggie asked, looking like he didn't know what to do.

I shook my head. "I don't feel much different, knowing who I am." I told them. I was just appreciating the silence in my head because Crowley hadn't come back.

"Well, Karsen is a nicer name than Blaze." Henry said, with a mildly apologetic look.

I smiled. "Sounds Scottish or Irish."

"An old Irish surname, means curly haired." Biggie said.

I smiled. "Ok, this is good. It means we're making progress right."

"How's your arm and leg?" Henry asked.

I hadn't even thought about it. "They feel fine. No burning or stinging sensation." I told him, wiggling my toes and moving my hand.

"Good." Biggie said, turning to leave.

"Is he still here?" Henry asked quietly.

My eyes wandered to the opposite wall. I didn't really want to have this conversation with him. "No, he's gone right now."

I saw Henry nod out of the corner of my eye. "Listen… I'm sorry about not believing you."

I gave him a weak smile. "No need. I probably would've thought I was crazy too if I'd been someone else."

"No, really. I'm sorry. I didn't-" He broke off, apparently not sure what to say.

I gently took his hand and smiled. "It's ok, Henry."

He nodded. "Well Doc says you can get out of here as soon as you're feeling better."

"Awesome. This hospital gown is itchy." I said, wrinkling my nose.

Henry chuckled. "You want me to get Ash?" He asked, picking up a pile of clothes and bringing them to the bed.

"Nah. I got it." I told him, feeling stiff against every muscle.

He nodded and pushed a button on the console that made metal walls slide out of the walls and completely cover the glass. "I'll be right outside then." He said, pulling open the door and leaving.

I dressed as quickly as I could, but it was still much slower than it should've been. I moved awkwardly like I hadn't been standing in a month. My knees felt too weak to hold me up and my arm was sore, despite the fact the burning was gone.

When I pulled open the door to my room, I expected the hallway to be empty. I was pleasantly surprised when Henry pushed away from the wall to look at me. "I uh… got you these. I figured you'd have a hard time walking the first couple days." Henry said, holding a pair of crutches out to me.

I took them and set them under my arms. "Thanks Henry." I told him, testing my weight on them.

"And uh…" He started, suddenly looking awkward.

"If you tell me you called the guys-" I started.

"We called the guys." Henry said quickly before I could finish my sentence.

I sighed. "And?"

"Dude, they're pissed. They're on their way back from Illinois." He said.

I took a breath and blew it out, feeling my temperature rise. "How many fires did I start while I was out?" I asked, taking a step with the crutches.

"One." Henry said.

I looked up at him in surprise. "One?"

"Yeah. We only had to put one out." He told me with a little smile.

I nodded. "That's new." I said, taking another step on the crutches. "These are weird and clunky."

"I know. But you gotta get around somehow." He told me.

I nodded. I could see Will a distance down the hall coming towards us with Ashley.

"How are you feeling?" Will asked when he was close enough.

I shrugged, but cringed as it shot pain up my back. "Managing, I think."

"Magnus said the burns are almost healed." Will told me.

"So can we start calling you Karsen?" Ashley asked.

I smirked a little. "I guess it does sound better than Blaze."

Ashley smiled. "Oh, mom wants to see you, since you're awake."

I nodded, looking down at the plastic and metal holding me upright. This was going to be a lot harder than I thought.

It took me longer than I'd have liked, but Henry and Ashley walked with me up to Magnus's office. Will had some paperwork to do.

"Yes, come in." Magnus said, with a smile.

I limped my way over to and very unceremoniously fell into one of her chairs, taking in a breath through my teeth as the pain reared up in my leg.

"Feeling better I see." Magnus said with a smile.

"Well, hey Doc. They ain't got me yet. That's what matters." I said, leaning my head back on the cushy chair. "Ash said you wanted to see me."

"Your brothers will be here within the hour. I explained to them the basics of your situation, but I felt you should explain the rest to them." Magnus said, holding her hands on her desk.

I didn't even lift my head to look at her. "What did you tell them?"

"That we were under the impression you were having a psychotic breakdown until you exorcised a demon in my lab." Magnus said.

I blinked, looking up. "You forgot the part where I didn't actually exorcise the demon."

"I figured you'd get enough grief for everything else. Might as well leave out the part where you forgot your Latin." Magnus smiled.

"And since when do you know Latin?" Henry asked.

"Yeah mom." Ashley said, looking surprised.

"Oh, just a trick I picked up from an old friend." Magnus said.

I huffed and shook my head. "Did you and Bobby have a thing, or did you just end up on a case together?"

"Bobby?" Henry asked, rolling the name around. "The old drunk from South Dakota?"

"You're talking about my family here." I warned him.

He put his hands up in defense.

"We simply ended up working together and he taught me Latin and gave me a few trinkets, which I thought were of no use and were stashed away." Magnus said, showing me an older version of the necklace I gave her before the exorcism.

I nodded. "Ok, within the hour, all hell breaks loose for the second time. Check. As much as I'd love to stay and chat, I'm going to go find a high ledge to throw myself off of." I told the room, standing up and trying to correctly work the crutches again.

"A little melodramatic, don't you think?" Magnus asked with a hint of a smile.

"You informed my demon hunting brothers that I see the King of Hell and then exorcised a demon in your lab. If you had told them I was on a deserted island in the middle of the Atlantic, I would not be safe from the wrath that comes with that impala. So excuse me while I find a remote corner of your castle to contain my incoming situation." I said, before turning and leaving the room.

I wandered the castle hallways until my arms felt like they were going to give out. I ended up in the garden, pretty close to the tree I'd hid under when I was hiding from the guys. I sighed, closing my eyes and listening to the sounds of the garden.

"Why didn't you call us?" Dean asked. Oh, boy was he pissed.

"I was unconscious when they called you or you never would have known." I told him, staying where I was with my eyes closed.

"Cut the crap, Blaze." Dean said harshly.

"My name's Karsen." I told him, opening my eyes to look at him.

He paused, his features softening. "What?"

"Henry found me in a missing person's database. My name is Karsen Winters." I said, kind of smiling to ease the situation a little.

Sam smirked and Dean just looked confused.

"I used to drive a Nissan Skyline and my parents died when I was little. My only surviving relative is an aunt who claimed me dead three years ago." I told them.

Sam moved to sit next to me on the stone bench. "Why do you have crutches?"

I pulled up the sleeve of my shirt and my pant leg, showing them the burn scars. "Hell fire. The demon used it on me."

Dean's anger rose, you could see it on his face. "Son of a bitch."

I grabbed his hand before he could get to pacing. "I'm ok. Magnus took care of me."

"I told you if you got hurt, I was gonna kill that kid." Dean said, turning around.

He was too quick; he got out of my grip. I stumbled to get my crutches up, but tripped on them and knocked myself over. Sam helped me up, Dean pausing to look at me.

"Henry didn't do a thing, so you come right back here and yell at me." I told him sternly as Sam righted me.

"I wasn't planning on yelling at you." Dean said, stomping back over to me. "But you're doing a damn good job at pissing me off."

"Dean, it was a job. Just another case and I handled it just fine. You always told me a hunter is only as good as what they can make it out of. I got out of hell fire so I think I'm doing alright." I told him with a weak smile.

"That's not an excuse. You should never have had any demons in this place. I thought it was protected." Dean said.

"It's protected against monsters; not demons." I told him.

"If I see that kid, I'm gonna kill him for letting you get hurt." Dean said.

I shook my head, resting my hand on his cheek. "You can cut the crap. I'm fine."

He shook his head and hugged me, pulling me tight.

I hugged him back, feeling safe for just a moment.

"Alright. Let's get you inside." Sam told me, his hand on the small of my back.

I limped along on the crutches, refusing help from the boys. We rounded corners and wandered halls until we ran into Biggie, who paused, seeing both boys. I forgot they hadn't met yet.

"Are you alright?" He asked me, despite the fact his eyes never left the boys.

"Yeah. My burns are starting to hurt." I told him, turning around to glance at the boys who had drawn their guns. "For the love of God, put it away and save yourself looking like the fool I did. Don't you think if he was gonna hurt me, he would have?"

"Is that a…" Sam trailed off.

"Bigfoot, yes. We call him Biggie." I told him, turning back to Biggie. "Sam, Dean, this is Biggie. Biggie, Sam and Dean."

"You're friends with a Bigfoot? We were gone two weeks!" Dean exclaimed.

I ignored him, turning back to Biggie. "Where'd you move my room to?" I asked him.

"Down the residential hall on the fourth floor. Henry put a sign on it for you." Biggie told me, still glancing at the guys behind me.

"Thanks." I told him and he nodded, turning to walk back the way he'd come.

"Seriously?" Sam asked.

"Seriously serious." I told him with a smile. "He helps Magnus with the surgeries."

The guys shook their heads, following me as I limped down the corridor. I found the room Biggie had mentioned and there was a sign, just like he said. "Speak, friend, and enter." I read out loud.

"That's stupid." Dean said, rolling his eyes.

"Isn't that from Lord of the Rings?" Sam asked.

"I think so, yeah." I said, trying to turn the handle but it acted like it was locked. "Weird."

"Here, lemme try." Dean said, pushing me out of the way. He gave it a good try, but the knob never turned.

"Friend?" Sam asked, sounding unsure.

"You guys are dorks. You're overthinking it. _Mellon_." I said out loud and the door clicked, floating open a little. I smiled. "That is so cool."

"Did you just actually say the Elfish word for friend?" Sam asked with a smile.

"Hey, I watch TV too." I said, kicking the door open and limping in. "Whoa…"

The ceiling was painted black and blue with swirls of white that looked like clouds and little flecks of white glitter that looked like twinkling stars when the light hit it. The walls were teal and gold, each wall having accents of the other color on each wall.

"Do you like it?" Henry asked, stepping out from behind the door.

"Like it? Henry, this is amazing." I told him. The furniture was the same as the other rooms, but it looked different in the light of the teal and gold. "It's beautiful."

"You did all this?" Dean asked Henry.

"Biggie helped with the ceiling. It was his idea to put the glitter in the paint for the stars." Henry said, obviously trying to down play what he'd done for me.

"Henry." I said, looking over at him. I couldn't articulate what this meant to me. I'd never had a bedroom. I shared a room in Ohio and after the guys picked me up, I'd lived in a motel. I never had more than a duffle bag of my own stuff to throw in a corner. Now I had a custom bedroom painted just for me.

"Ashley and I fought for the colors for almost two days. She said teal was too girly for you. I told her I thought it'd be good for you, since it's not a shade of red or orange." Henry said, digging his hands into his pockets.

"It's perfect." I told him.

He smiled and ducked his head. "I figured if you're going to stay here, the least we could do was paint the walls."

I smiled at him, forgetting Sam and Dean to my right.

"I guess I'll see you at dinner." Henry said, nodding to the guys and ducking out of the room.

"This is pretty intense, Karsen." Sam said as he glanced at the ceiling and walls.

"I think it's sweet." I told him with a smile.

"Sweet?" Dean asked, like he'd heard me wrong. "It's creepy."

"Dean, when was the last time you did something nice for a girl? Other than help her out of her clothes." I asked, giving him a pointed look.

He opened and closed his mouth, obviously not having been ready for back talk. "This isn't about me."

"Obviously." I told him, limping over to flop on the bed. "Henry said I only started one fire while I was out."

"One?" Sam asked, looking intrigued.

I nodded. "Maybe, after all this, there's still a way to put a cap on it."

Dean just snorted and I felt my temper flare. "If by cap, you mean a straight jacket and morphine, than yes."

Sam raised his eyebrows, like he was surprised at Dean.

I took a breath. "If you're going to be like that, what was the point of coming back? I'm alive. Everybody else is alive. We got the thing. Now go away." I told him, gathering my crutches and limping to the door.

"Blaze, I didn't-" Dean started.

"Karsen. My name is Karsen. Blaze sounds like a cartoon character." I told him, opening the door with a little bit of struggle before limping down the hallway.


	11. Silence is Golden

I didn't even know where I was going. I just knew there was no reason for the guys to be in the same room as me. After half an hour was wandering the halls, I noticed a familiar corner. I came around it and kind of smiled seeing where I'd ended up.

"Enough room over here for someone else?" I asked, making Henry smile at whatever he was soldering.

"I heard you come down the hall, if you were trying to scare me." He told me, still watching what he was doing.

"Nah. Heightened senses make those kinds of things hard." I told him, moving to sit into the chair with wheels. I figured if I was in the way, he could just wheel me out of the way. "And I kind of sound like a typewriter." I said, turning my nose up at the noise my mobility device made as I walked through the halls.

He smiled. "That's what it was. A typewriter. I was trying to figure out what that made me think of."

I just smiled at him and we fell quiet for a moment while he finished his project. It looked like a piece of circuitry, but I couldn't tell for what.

"So how's the guys?" He asked, kind of dragging out the question.

"Fine, last I checked." I told him.

He looked over at me with a kind of pointed look. "They drove all the way here to check on you."

I shook my head. "No, they drove all the way here to yell at me for being stupid. And when I tell them to go fly a kite, they get upset."

Henry shrugged. "I think you should appreciate it while you have it. Family isn't meant for coming and going." He said, holding up the soldering iron again.

"But that's all we do. We come, we go, we get drunk, we try our best to forget that we hunt nightmares like me." I told him.

He paused what he was doing and just looked at me. "Why do you think you're such a monster?"

I looked over at him and he looked… wounded. Like I'd hurt him. I suddenly realized that maybe whatever Henry really was, might be worse than what I was. The thought had never even crossed my mind since he kept such a good lid on his. He hadn't even told me about his thing, let alone showed me. I looked down at my hands in my lap. "I don't know what you are and I don't mind, you don't have to tell me." I said, watching him shift uncomfortably. "But even with this job, even with being whatever it is that you are, I can tell you haven't hurt people the way I have."

"You just don't know how to control it yet." Henry told me.

I shook my head. "What happens when you lose control, Henry? What's the worst thing you've done? Because I killed people." I said, feeling defeat swell in my chest.

He nodded, seeming to think about it. "I guess I've never lost it like that. I did fall through a window once."

I blinked at his sudden announcement. I'd been put through a window before too while hunting, but I had a feeling this was different. "Like…?" I asked.

He smirked. "Like the twelfth floor window in the hallway, facing Old City."

I blinked again, pretty sure I heard him wrong. "I'm sorry. We must not be thinking of the same thing."

He smiled and pulling up his sleeve to show me a scar that laced from just above his wrist to almost his elbow. "Fell twelve stories and all I got was this cool scar."

I shook my head at him. "So. Super resilient, super senses…" I trailed off. "Do you have claws like Wolverine?"

He smiled and shook his head. "No, but that would be cool."

I smiled and nodded. "Ok, no claws. Heat rays?" I asked off handedly.

He just looked at me funny. "Why do you keep listing off super powers?"

"Well, because obviously you're a super hero. You have this Clark Kent shyness this going on, but you also have the Tony Stark intelligence level." I told him.

He shook his head. "I can't build a super suit to fly me around."

I smiled over at him. "Only because you haven't tried yet."

He shook his head and I could tell he didn't want to talk about it anymore. "Where's Dean and Sam?"

"An excellent question which I have no answer to." I told him honestly. "When I left them, they were in my room telling me how stupid I was for trying to get help. So I don't really care where they are now."

Henry looked up from his circuitry. He'd rolled up the other sleeve of his dark purple long sleeve and it was interesting how you could see the scar every time his arm flexed. "What do you mean?"

I sighed, spinning around in the chair once. "I told Dean there might still be a way to put a cap on… this…" I said, gesturing to myself. "He said, 'well if by cap you mean a strait jacket and morphine, then yes.' "

Henry made a disapproval face and shook his head. "Some brother."

I sat there quietly while Henry worked away at his thing. "Is there really a way to control this? Or is that a pipedream like wanting a family and kids?"

"If there's anyone that can figure out what's going on with you and possibly fix it, it's Magnus. So don't lose hope on me yet." He told me with a smile.

"Yes, deary. Hope is all you have left."

I cringed, his Scottish voice like nails on a chalkboard. "No." I whimpered, laying my head in my hands.

"What's wrong?" Henry asked and I could hear him set his tool down.

"Yes love. Tell the nice werewolf what's wrong." Crowley said with a smile.

I picked up my crutches and tried to hurry down the hall, to try and run from him. But in my haste, I misplaced the crutch and fell hard to the floor. I hissed, feeling the pain shoot up my leg.

"Karsen!" Henry called, coming to help me up. "What's wrong? What's happening?" He asked, taking my face in his hands.

"Tell him how you want to make sweet love and have all his little werewolf babies. Tell him how he makes your lady parts tingle." Crowley whispered, right next to my ear.

I closed my eyes, feeling the defeat sink into my body. I was never going to be able to get rid of him. He was never going to go away. "I don't know what to do."

"Is he here? Can you see him?" Henry asked.

"I don't want to see him. I don't want to hear him." I said, still with my eyes closed.

"Oh, but you can. And you're going to for a very long time." Crowley cooed.

"Here." Henry said, leaning down to pick me up. He then grabbed my crutches and handed them to me.

I opened my eyes to look at him. He looked worried or concerned. "What are we doing?"

"We're gonna go talk to Magnus." He told me.

I nodded, not sure what that would do, but hey. Why not? I limped down the hall, Henry walking close next to me and Crowley milling behind us.

"You're such a cute couple, ya know." Crowley said and I could almost hear his smile.

I wasn't going to reply to him. He just wanted a rise out of me. And he sure as hell wasn't going to get it.

"He doesn't look like he's pleased a woman in a very long time. I'm sure you could change that." Crowley smiled at me as we boarded the elevator.

"What's he saying?" Henry asked.

I just set my jaw and shook my head.

"Oh, tell him. Repeat everything I say." Crowley grinned as the elevator rode up. "Tell him how much you'd like to feel that rage he keeps inside."

I took a breath and blew it out.

"Oh, I can see it. All that white hot rage he keeps bottled up. It's how he doesn't wolf out on ya, darling. Tell him you can see the hatred in his soul he has for himself." Crowley grinned.

My resolve was cracking. It was like he was grating away my nerves.

"Ask him if he goes native when he makes love." Crowley said.

"For the love of God! Just leave him alone, alright? You wanna poke at me, then do your goddamned worst. You've done it before. But stop." I told him, turning to face him.

"Oooh. She speaks." Crowley smiled like he won a bet.

"Stop it. You wanna make me see blood dripping down the walls or maggots in my potatoes; you go right a-fucking-head. But if you say one more thing about Henry-" I started.

"You'll what? You'll kill me?" Crowley laughed.

"Karsen." I heard Henry's voice behind me and I'd forgotten he was in the elevator too. "What's he saying?"

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "You have white hot rage in your soul and you bottle it up."

He stood watching me as the elevator opened and Sam and Dean stood there.

"Jesus, that's perfect. Could this day get any better?" I said rhetorically as I pushed past the guys.

"Oh goodie! Did you know Dean sleeps with a gun because he's sure that's how he'll die? And Sam dreams of having a family and lots of little ones playing in a yard with a white picket fence." Crowley whispered in my ear.

"Yes, ok? Yes, I did. Stop." I mumbled, shouldering down the hall towards Magnus's office.

"What did you say?" Dean's voice boomed.

I stopped and looked over my shoulder. Dean, Sam and Henry stood looking back at me while Crowley leaned against the wall. "Nothin'."

"She's seeing him again." Henry failed to whisper to the guys.

"Who's side are you on?" I said, giving him a pointed look.

"The side that gets this thing fixed." Henry said, returning my look.

"White hot rage. Death while sleeping. White picket fence." Crowley repeated.

"Nobody's dying in their sleep and nobody gets a white picket fence, so cool your shorts, Scotty." I told him, glaring at his appearance.

"Where is he?" Dean asked.

"It doesn't matter." I told him, turning back around to head to Magnus's office. I knocked at the door at the end of the hall and when she said I could come in, I pushed open the door.

"Hello there." Magnus said with a smile.

"She's seeing the Scottish guy again." Henry said, leading the boys in.

"Yes, well. No reason to sugar coat it." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, but we could sugar coat the werewolf for you." Crowley cooed, his feet propped up on Magnus's coffee table.

"Is he here?" Magnus asked.

I rolled my shoulders. "He's got his feet propped up on the coffee table."

"Get your feet off my end table!" Magnus said, louder than normal in the direction of the couch.

"Oooh. I like this one. Can I keep her?" Crowley said, despite the fact he removed his feet from the coffee table.

"Wait, so he's here? What's he saying?" Sam asked.

I shook my head. "Lots of things that are most definitely not getting repeated."

"Try us." Dean said, taking his 'macho' stance and crossing his arms over his chest.

"No." I told him again, turning my back to him.

"Blaze!" Dean said, much louder.

"My name is not Blaze! I am not a Saturday morning cartoon. I have a name and it's not that!" I said, much louder than I'd wanted to.

The guys looked stunned. Henry came over and put his hand on my shoulder.

"You get 'em girl. Tell 'em how you really feel." Crowley said, now standing next to Magnus.

My head started pounding. I just wanted him to stop talking. "Doc, you gotta get him outta here. I'm dying over here."

"How are you feeling, dear?" She asked me.

"You're all hot and bothered over the werewolf. Say it." Crowley poked.

"My head keeps throbbing, but I'm sure it'd stop if he shut up." I told her, leaning against her desk and rubbing my head.

Dean came to stand next to me, giving me the worried big brother look.

"Let's go to the library and see if we can scare anything up." Magnus informed the four of us.

We nodded and headed towards the library. Sam and Magnus talked back and forth in front of us. Henry walked next to me, making sure he had a hand on my arm to steady me and Dean trailed along behind us.

"Whoa." I mumbled, looking around at the grand size of the library. I glanced over at Sam and he had much the same look on his face.

"Yay. Research. Because we haven't done enough of that in the past week." Dean groaned.

"Where's Will and Ashley?" I asked Magnus.

"They went into Old City to meet with some contacts." She informed me.

So we all grabbed a table and five or six books. We looked through everything from demons to the effects of sound waves on mice. Dean had ran into town to buy a twelve pack, much to Magnus's disapproval. The twelve pack was divided between Dean, Sam and I. Magnus wasn't too happy, but she still didn't realize how much different we were from them.

The beer was nice; it dulled my senses and helped me tune out Crowley. I saw him trying to talk to me, but none of it reached me. Why hadn't I thought of this before? It was amazing, having some silence. I went back to my book and continued reading about ectoplasm.

It'd been about an hour later when I glanced at the window, throwing my book on the desk. It had been midafternoon when we'd started leafing through these books. It was now dark and I sighed. "This is crazy."

"What is?" Dean asked from the other side of the room.

"This is. We're sitting here going through books like this is going to help anything." I said, standing up and stretching. My leg was feeling better and I took a tentative step without the crutches.

"We must've missed something." Sam said, looking frustrated.

"It's not like his energy is different." I mumbled.

"What?" Henry said, looking alert.

I glanced up at him. "What do you mean?"

"What did you just say?" He asked, sitting up straight in his chair.

"It's not like his energy signature is different than ours, right? I mean, there's no way he could've phased through the EM shields or anything? That's what they're there for." I said, thinking out loud.

Henry stood up and quickly walked over to me. I watched him carefully before he pushed his lips to mine. He quickly pulled away with a smile. "You're brilliant." He said before jogging out of the library.

I blinked, looking over at Magnus. "As nice as that was, what was it for?"

Dean and Sam had the same surprised look on their faces.

"He does that a lot, if you leave out the kissing part." Magnus said, standing up and heading for the door Henry left through.

I limped after them, not feeling the need for the crutches anymore. My leg didn't hurt as badly and they looked stupid. Sam helped me as Dean followed Magnus out. We walked the halls until we found the computer lab.

"What on earth is the boy doing?" Crowley said, propping up the door frame.

"Shut up, Scotty." I mumbled, angered by how I could hear him again.

"Just one more tweak." Henry said out loud, typing furiously at his keyboard. He looked up at me as he hit enter.

"What on earth-" Crowley said as he blinked out.

I watched, waiting for him to come back. "What'd you do?"

Henry gave a proud smirk, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head. "His energy signature was just similar enough he could slip through the EM shields. He couldn't get all the way through because of my protocols. And I couldn't pick it up before because my machine wasn't scanning for it. I fixed it so it blocked him out of the Sanctuary."

"Well done, Henry." Magnus said with a smile.

"Wait, so he won't come back?" Sam asked, as Dean looked between Henry, me and Sam.

"Nope." Henry still smiled.

"He's gone." I smiled, relishing the silence.

Dean looked like he didn't know how to take the news while Sam just smiled down at me. I reached up to hug them both and they each gave me a weird one armed hug.

"Well, I believe you three have much to talk about so we'll leave you." Magnus said, leading Henry out of the room.

I stopped him when he walked by and gave him a tight hug. "Thank you so much. Even if you aren't a super hero, you're my hero."

He ducked his head and I noticed the rose tinge creeping around his ears. "Anytime." He said before leaving.

"You got a real thing for that kid, huh?" Dean asked after Henry turned the corner.

I thought about it for a minute. "He's good to me."

Sam smiled and Dean nodded. "That's good. Because otherwise we'd have to take him out to the graveyard and bury him alive." Dean said with a strained smile to show me he was serious to some extent.

I smirked. "Yeah, I know. I've dug a couple graves in my time." I told him, gently pushing on his arm.

"Guess we taught ya pretty good." Dean said, glancing at Sam.

"Of course we did. The kid knows as much as we do." Sam smiled.

I shook my head at them. "This not having somebody else talking at me thing is kinda cool." I said, glancing over my shoulder just to make sure he hadn't reappeared.

"C'mon. Let's see if we can scare up some grub and more beers." Dean said, putting his arm on my shoulders.


	12. This is Gonna Be Hard

Magnus said that with the threat of Crowley gone, we could focus a little better on my physiology. She said she was close to understanding what happened in the pit, but there was something she was missing.

Sam and Dean hung around for another two days before Bobby called and said they were needed in Montana.

"You call if you need anything. I don't care what it is, but you check in with us, ok? If I don't hear from you in two days, I'm hauling ass back here, you hear me?" Dean said in his big brother voice.

I stood there with a smile. The pain had pretty much gone from my leg and arm and I was completely without crutches. "Yeah, yeah. I've heard that before." I told him, hugging him tightly. "Don't die." I told them both as I hugged Sam.

"But it was so much fun the first time." Dean smiled.

"The first five." I corrected him, as I'd heard the stories many times.

"Hey now. Medically induced death doesn't count. I got revived just fine." Dean said.

"If you've got four under your belt, that makes us even." Sam smiled at his brother.

"Did you guys seriously die four times?" Will asked, disbelievingly.

Dean held up his hands. "Car crash, mauled, shot, and Purgatory." Dean said as he ticked them off, then looked at Sam.

Sam thought about it for a minute. "Stabbed, struck by lightning, shot, and fell into Hell."

"Wait, are we counting the Mystery Spot thing in Florida?" I asked.

Sam rolled his eyes so hard, I'm pretty sure he saw his brain. "No. We are never talking about the Mystery Spot thing in Florida ever again."

"It doesn't count because I didn't actually die. You just thought I did." Dean told Sam.

"A hundred friggin' times. Can we just go?" Sam asked, suddenly upset.

Henry came to stand next to me. "What about you?"

"Oh, just the once." I said.

"It's ok. You've only got three to catch up with Sammy and me." Dean smiled, giving me one last hug.

"You can't seriously have died four times." Will said, trying to reason it through.

"The same way you weren't possessed by a demon, right doc?" I asked, patting him on the back as the boys laughed and got in the car. The engine roared to life and they drove away, fading into the rest of the traffic.

"Do you believe they died four times?" Will asked, looking over me to Henry.

"I believe we need another night on the town to celebrate." Ashley said, coming from behind us.

"Is that really a good idea?" Will asked.

Henry looked down at me. I shrugged. "Nobody ever died from dancing."

Henry smiled. "I'm in."

"You can come or you can stay home and pout." Ashley informed Will as she took my hand and headed back into the castle. "Your cousin is really hot, but he's kind of a jerk."

I smiled. "Is that shirt I wore last time clean?" I asked, curiously.

"Oh no. You're not wearing that." Ashley said as we got in the elevator.

"What am I supposed to wear then?" I asked.

Ashley just smiled as the elevator dinged. We got out and I followed her to Magnus's office. "Hey mom. Can Karsen and I go shopping?"

"Shopping? I don't need to go shopping." I said, looking at Ashley.

She waved me off, still looking at her mom for an answer.

Magnus glanced between the two of us. "I'm assuming you're meaning clothes in this instance."

I raised an eyebrow. "That's what shopping means where I come from."

"Yes, well I suppose. Must I put a limit on your card?" Magnus asked.

"No, mom. We'll be spending like $300 bucks tops." Ashley said.

I almost choked. "What? You spend that much money on clothes?"

Ashley looked at my oddly. "Yeah. I gotta look nice."

I was suddenly uncomfortable. $300 was a lot of money for clothes. Especially when most of mine lost the monster fight.

"It'll be fine. C'mon. Let's get your stuff." Ashley said, looping her arm through mine.

We made our way up to my room and I grabbed my meager wallet that had been lifted from a convenience store outside of Atlanta. It had enough credit cards to pay for whatever clothes I ended up with, but I'd never spend it all on that.

Ashley smiled as we headed for the elevator. "Shopping?" Biggie asked.

"You read minds too?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Magnus told me." He smirked.

I nodded and we rode the elevator in silence. Ashley and I borrowed one of the cars in the garage and headed into town. "So how's the Henry thing going?" She asked, trying to be passive.

I smirked. "How's the Will thing going?"

She made a disapproval face. "That bad?"

I laughed lightly. "Pretty much. He kissed me in the library, right? But then we went back to normal. I don't know. A relationship seems weird, but I really like him."

"Yeah, mom told me about that whole thing. Seems kinda weird to me, but Henry's a different breed." Ashley told me.

"So what about you and the shrink? He seems less likely to pick up a hint than Henry." I said to her.

She smiled. "Will's a great guy, but he always sees things from a logical, realistic point. We're still trying to teach him things aren't always what they seem."

"And sometimes, they are exactly what they seem." I elbowed her with a giggle.

She smiled as we pulled into a parking garage. She turned off the car and we got out, linking arms as we walked.

"So where to?" I asked. I realized I'd come through this part of town the night I came in, but it'd been dark and It all looked different.

"Bettie's Boutique." She said.

I didn't know that I'd like to buy any clothes from a Boutique. But I kept my trap shut and she led me down the sidewalk. We paused outside what looked like a motorcycle shop and Ashley pulled the door open for me. I just looked at her and cautiously stepped inside.

I was completely taken back. It was a mix of Motorcycle Badass Babes and 50's Pink Poodle Skirts. The décor made me think of the old 50's style diners alongside the highways. Nobody was wearing roller skates, so I relaxed a little bit. I soon realized why it was called Bettie's Boutique. It was essentially a tribute to Bettie Page.

"I feel like Sandy from Grease." I told Ashley, looking over at her.

She giggled, moving around me. "Hey Ellen. We need to outfit my friend over here."

"Of course, darling. Anything for Ashley Magnus." Ellen said as Ashley unzipped her leather jacket and sat down on one of the pink leather couches. "You've got lovely proportions." Ellen told me as she measured my bust, waist and hips.

After she measured me, her assistant put five complete outfits in the dressing room for me. Ashley gave me a thumbs-up, despite how wary I was of the whole thing. But I pulled the curtain closed and turned to the wall. There were ten series of hooks, five of which held up the outfits I was supposed to try on.

I sighed, being unsure and stripped down to my underwear, pulling on the first one. A pair of blue jeans with a pastel pink swoop neck top and black heels. I pulled back the curtain and tried to stay upright in the heels.

Ashley smiled and stood up to come look at me. "This is um…" She trailed off.

"Terrible." I said. "Not the outfit. Just on me." I said, glancing at Ellen as she glared at me.

"And Henry doesn't like pink." Ashley said, mulling it over.

I raised an eyebrow. "We're shopping for Henry?"

"Well what's the point of clothes if you can't show them off?" She asked, looking confused.

Did she even realize how different we were from each other? "Can I get out of these terrible shoes?" I begged.

Ashley waved me away and I pulled the curtain back. I stripped off the outfit and tried my best it put it back on the hanger how it was. I pulled the next outfit off the hanger. It was a bright blue crop top with flared out jeans. I was starting to think shopping with Sam and Dean was better than this.

I sighed and pulled the curtain back.

"You look so cute!" Ashley said.

I tried to smile and look at myself in the mirror.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

All I could think about was how I was more comfortable in my blood stained t-shirts than this getup. "It's not me." I told her.

She looked at me for a minute. "Hold on." She said, going to dig through more racks of clothes. I stood there for almost ten minutes in my stupid outfit while her and Ellen whispered among the racks. But Ashley smiled when she came back. "Put this on?" She asked

I took it from her, barely even looking at it. I pulled the curtain closed and changed quickly. I pulled open to the curtain and looked at myself in the mirror. A 50's style red halter top with black polka dots and tight fitting black pants. "Oh, wow." I said, twisting and turning, trying to see every angle of myself in the mirror.

"And little bitty heels." Ashley smiled, handing me the black and white polka dotted two inch heel. It was more than I was used to, but I figured it'd be easier than the stilettos she gave me earlier. I slipped them on and they fit nicely. I also didn't feel like I was eight inches taller.

"It's perfect." I smiled at her.

An hour later, I had two dresses, six tops, four pairs of pants and three pairs of shoes.

Ashley smiled at me. "Henry is gonna flip."

"What about you?" I asked, pausing on the sidewalk. "We gotta get you something to wow Will."

"What? No." She said, looking slightly embarrassed.

But I looked up at her and started to say something, pausing as I saw the outfit in the window. "That!" I pointed excitedly. It was a red corset top with black silk trim and lace over a silky black looking skirt.

"Seriously?" She asked with a breathy laugh.

"C'mon. You're gonna dress me up like Bettie Page and you can't go slutty Esmeralda for one night?" I asked, putting my hand on my hip.

She watched me for a minute before rolling her eyes. "Okay. I'll try it on." She smiled and I pulled her into the Costume shop.

"Hello there. How can I help you girls?" The lady behind the counter asked. Her skin was the color of melted chocolate and she had bright green eye shadow on. I couldn't help but smile at her.

"My best friend here would just love to be able to try on the outfit in the window. The red and black one." I clarified, as there was also an It costume in the other window.

She smiled. "Sure thing. Give me just a second to disrobe the mannequin. This is actually the last set of this outfit I have." She said, as she pulled the top and skirt off the base. "It's about a size ten. I'm guessing that's pretty close to you."

Ashley teetered a little. "I'm close to an eight."

"I can always take it in for ya, honey. I'm also a seamstress." She smiled.

"Ash, please try it on. If it's too big, I'll pay for the sewing work myself." I begged.

Ashley heaved a sigh. "Yeah, alright." She said.

"Dressin' room is behind that door there." The lady pointed to a door half covered by green and pink beads.

Ashley nodded, carrying the garments over to the door and closing it behind her.

"There's this guy she works with that she's trying to impress and we're going out dancing tonight. She bought me all these new clothes and I told her we had to get her something." I explained to the shop keeper, who smiled.

"The dress was originally meant to be a Queen of Hearts costume. They sold like hot cakes, I tell you what." She said.

I smiled at her as Ashley pushed open the door and stepped out. I paused, taking in her appearance. The top fit perfectly against her bust and the skirt hugged her hips at the top before flowing loosely out. And both the red and black looked amazing as they contrasted against her blonde hair. "Holy shit." I said, before covering my mouth and glancing at the shopkeeper. I could imagine her with a rolled up newspaper willing to hit me. But she just smiled.

"I'm hoping that means it's good." Ash said as she made her way to the full length mirror. "Wow. I'm a babe."

"You are a babe." I confirmed.

Ashley beamed. "I love it." She said, going back into the dressing room to take it off.

"Can you ring that up for me before she comes out here? I don't want her to pay for it." I whispered to the lady.

She smiled and rang up my purchase before Ashley came back out in her jeans and t-shirt. Ashley handed her the dress and she folded it neatly and put it in a shopping bag as Ashley handed her the credit card.

"You're friend bought it for you." The shop keeper said.

Ashley pouted, looking over at me. "I told you I had it covered."

"Think of it as an early birthday present." I told her.

"That was two months ago." She said.

"Then think of it as an investment I'm placing in your future with the shrink." I smiled, taking the bag from the lady behind the counter. "You have a great day." I told her, turning and heading for the door.

"Okay, fine. I accept it." Ashley groaned and followed me out.

It was almost noon so after we loaded the bags in the car, Ashley drove us to this little bistro down the road she said her and Magnus went all the time. It was French inspired and I smiled as we got out of the car. The whole place had this aura about it. I felt like if I turned around, I'd see the Eiffel tower in the distance.

We sat down and before I could even look at the menu, Ashley was ordering to the waiter in French. I paused as he smiled and talked back to her in what I could only assume was his native tongue.

"You speak French?" I asked her with a raised eyebrow after he left.

She smiled. "French, Spanish, German, a little bit of Russian, Italian, Portuguese and I've been working on Romanian, but it's trickier."

"Seriously?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes. "I fly all over the world. I have to have an idea of what they're saying to me and with those languages, I can get by pretty much anywhere."

"I don't know about French, but I can talk Brooklynese, Floridian, Californian, and Michiganese." I said with a little smile.

"Hey, you're pretty much covered the United States, so I think you're good." Ashley smiled.

"My hood rat dialect of Michiganese is pretty convincing, I've been told." I chuckled as the waiter brought our drinks. Ashley had ordered me a cherry Italian Soda and herself a blueberry one. I sipped the drink and smiled. "It's good."

We had a light lunch of soup and breadsticks before we headed back to the Sanctuary. Ashley put the car in park in the garage and we climbed out, taking our shopping bags with us. We met Will in the elevator going up to the residential floor, as Ash was helping with my bags.

"Shopping?" He asked stupidly.

I rolled my eyes. "No, Will. We were sky diving. The bags were our door prize." Ashley giggled and Will glared at me. "Do I look like I've been shopping, Doc Oc?" I asked him.

"Don't call me Doc Oc." Will said sternly, well his attempt at sternly.

"Do I look like I've been shopping?" I asked slowly as the elevator dinged.

"Yes." He answered.

"Then, _logically_, it stands to reason I went shopping." I told him, remembering what Ashley said about him earlier.

"That a girl!" Henry said suddenly, surprising me.

"I live with Winchesters. You think I'm gonna let a shrink run me over?" I asked with an eye roll.

Will just glared at me. I knew this was a turning point in our relationship. He was going full shrink on me from now on.

"Ash and I are gonna go put these up." I said to Henry, gesturing to the bags as he held the elevator.

"Ok." He smiled. "I'll be in the computer lab if you need me."

I smiled back at him before turning around and heading after Ashley.

"He so likes you." Ashley said as she closed my door.

"He does not." I said, even though I knew it was true.

"Karsen, he painted a room for you. Henry doesn't paint anything. Henry isn't creative worth crap unless it's made out of circuits and wiring." Ashley said.

I shrugged. How was I supposed to know? I didn't remember anything before last year, so maybe I'd never been in a relationship before. I was exactly good with guys in a romantic sense. I sighed. This was harder than I'd thought it was going to be.

"Hey. You stop. I'll help you as much as I can." She said, coming to hug me. "Now go hang out in the computer lab while I find us a party to go to tonight." She said, turning me and pushing me towards the door.

I shook my head and went back to the elevator, taking me to the ground floor. I had memorized most of the corridors on this level and the fourth floor where my room was. I turned towards the computer lab and paused when I heard two voices.

"Doc… I don't know…" Henry said, sounding wary.

"Henry. Have I led you astray before?" Magnus asked.

"Well, no. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying she's a hunter. She's going to freak." Henry told her.

"How do you know that for certain? She may accept you the same way you accept her." Magnus said.

"Doc." Henry said, sounding frustrated. "It's not the same thing. She can light things on fire, so what? I change into this... this…" He paused like he didn't want to say it out loud.

"Henry," Magnus said in what I assumed was her mom voice. "Tell her the truth if you care for her. If you do not care for her, then by all means, do no tell her."

Henry sighed heavily.

"Give it some thought. I'll be in my office if you want to talk." Magnus said, her heels clicking on the cement as she walked out of the computer lab.

Quickly, I slid back two steps and ducked into an unmarked room, not closing the door all the way. Magnus passed right by me and after counting to fifteen in my head, I ducked my head out to make sure the hallway was clear.

I left the door ajar so Henry wouldn't hear me close it. I was surprised he hadn't heard me yet. I didn't want him to think I was snooping on him. I straightened myself and walked into the computer lab.

Henry jumped when he saw me. "Jeez. Wow. You snuck up on me." He said, shaking his head.

I raised an eye brow with a smile. "Thought you had super senses."

"I do. I just…" He paused, taking a deep breath. "Are you wearing perfume?"

"Uh. Yeah. Ashley sprayed some on me earlier. It got in my eyes and everything." I said, remembering the itching it left.

"But I didn't smell it on you earlier in the elevator." Henry said, completely forgetting about his work.

I shrugged. "Ash hugged me. Maybe some of hers rubbed off on me."

Henry looked kind of over my shoulder like he was farther away than the table. Suddenly, he snapped back and shook his head again. "It's uh… it's a good smell on you. No, I meant, I meant, it smells good on you."

I smiled, sitting down across from him at the work table. "Well thanks. Maybe I'll have to pick up a bottle of my own."

Henry smiled and ducked his head, remembering he had circuitry in his hand.

"Isn't that the same thing you were messing with last week?" I asked.

"Yeah, I thought I had it down, but it fizzed out last night." Henry said, looking frustrated.

"Well," I said. "I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Henry kind of ducked his head, focusing on his work. "So. Any idea where Ash is taking us tonight?"

"No idea. She said something about finding a party." I told him with a shrug.

Henry nodded. "She likes going out just so she's not always cooped up in here."

"Oh, I totally know the feeling. I was living in a hospital with bars on the windows. I can get that." I told him and he kinda smiled a little bit. "What?"

"Nothin'." He said, quickly shaking his head.

"Lies. Out of the ass. Own up." I told him, feeling my inner Dean take over my mouth.

He smirked. "Most people don't like talking about that stuff."

I shrugged. "It's a big part of my past and as much as I don't like myself now, it's part of who I am and I gotta rock it because it's all I've got."

His hands paused like he was contemplating my words before he put down the soldering iron and looked at me. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped, turning his head to the side like he was listening. "Ash." He said, almost to himself as Ashley and her leather heels came clicking around the corner.

"I found the perfect party!" Ashley said, more excited than I'd ever seen her.

Henry and I exchanged wary glances. "What kind of party?" Henry asked.

"A masquerade!" She exclaimed excitedly, holding a flier out to him that she'd obviously printed off the computer.

Henry got a smirk on his face. "8 PM to 12 AM. Twenty-one and over only. Tickets available at the door. Formal attire required. Ten dollars per person if dressed in a mask. Twenty-five dollars per person if not dressed in mask. Prizes awarded for Best Couple, Best Outfit, and Best Mask."

"Sounds like fun." Will said, coming around the corner, making me jump. "Magnus wanted me to see if Henry got the circuit board fixed."

"Not quite yet." Henry said, putting the flier down and returning to gaze at the plastic and metal.

"So we're going to a masquerade?" Will asked, picking up the flier.

"That's perfect for your new outfit." I told Ashley, nudging her hip.

"None of the clothes we bought you today were black tie worthy." Ashley said.

"What about the black dress? We could totally play that up." I said, as Ashley was giving me hand signals, but suspiciously stopped when Henry looked up.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing. Karsen and I are gonna see what we can make up for her." Ashley said, taking my arm and pulling me out of the chair. She practically drug me down the hallway. "What was that? You almost told Henry exactly what you were wearing!" She exclaimed as we got into the elevator.

I blinked. "I didn't think it mattered."

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Mystery. You have to drive him crazy wondering what you're going to wear."

I was starting to think I wasn't very good at being a girl.


	13. Wolf in Hacker's Clothes

Ash wanted the spend the next eight hours dressing me and redressing me, except Magnus informed her the only way all four of us could go out again was if we finished a week's worth of chores, minus feedings of course.

To this end, I had no grace what-so-ever when I flopped down at the dinner table.

"Tired?" Magnus asked, cutting into her piece of balsamic braised chicken.

"I would take getting charged by a giant man eating spider over reliving that day again." I sighed.

"It wasn't that bad." Biggie said as he sat down next to me.

"No. Stitching yourself up isn't bad. Resetting your arm with only whiskey isn't bad. That was terrible." I told him, dishing my own dinner.

"You've sewn yourself up before?" Ashley asked.

"Oh yeah. Dean says you're only as good as the things you can walk away from." I told her.

"You've walked away from a lot." Will said.

"Cheers to that." Henry said, lifting his wine glass.

"Could you teach me?" Ashley asked as we all took drinks from our glasses.

"Only if the boss lady says it's ok." I told her, glancing at her mom.

"Boss lady? Is that an appropriate title?" Magnus asked with a smile.

"Well, to the best of my knowledge you're both in charge of this fine establishment as well as of the female gender, so I see no way for it to be insulting." I told her, taking another bite of chicken.

Magnus smiled. "Yes, alright. I suppose stitching one's self up would be a useful skill, if the situation ever arose. Henry can learn as well."

"So how many of those scars have you gotten from stitching yourself up?" Will asked.

His words made me freeze. I didn't like talking about my scars, even the ones from above ground. "Uh. Twenty-nine." I said quietly, taking a bite of mashed potatoes.

"Do you all have masks for tonight?" Magnus asked, obviously aware of my lack of interest in our current topic.

"No. We'll just have to pay the extra fifteen bucks a person." Ashley said, sounding down cast.

"Well. Then it will be your advantage that at one point in my life, I was somewhat of a socialite." Magnus said with a smile.

Ashley slowly grinned. "You've got some stuff stashed away?"

"Not exactly stashed away. I've just preserved some of my more interesting memoirs." Magnus said.

"What do you mean? You can't be a day over thirty-five." I threw out. I had the impression Doctor Magnus was much older than she'd originally appeared, but nothing really made sense as to how old she was.

"As much as I appreciate the compliment, I'm much older than I appear." Magnus said, wiping her mouth before standing up. "If you'll follow me to the basement."

Ashley practically jumped out of her chair, while Will, Henry and I followed them. Magnus led us through a series of tunnels and halls I'd never been through before. I was sure the others had seen this section of the castle many times, but to me, it was just old and creepy.

We stopped in a warehouse looking room, everything in a tub marked what it was and when it was from. I glanced at one closest to me and did a double take. "1944? Is all this your grandpa's stuff?" I asked.

"Oh no. It all belongs to me." Magnus said, searching the labels for a box.

"Doc. There's no way this is your stuff." I said.

"And how do you figure, exactly?" She asked, looking at me.

I paused. "Doc. You can't actually tell me that you're seventy years old, because I'm calling bullshit."

"Of course not. I'm one hundred and fifty-eight." Magnus said, pulling a box off the shelf.

I let out a laugh, obviously aware of how stupid it sounded. But nobody else laughed or said anything. "What?"

"I was born in 1850." Magnus said, smiling as she opened the box. "These are from my very first masquerade ball. The former French Monarchy threw it. I was only twenty years old. My father had been invited by Napoleon himself."

"Napoleon… Like…. Bonaparte?" I asked, still incredibly confused.

"My father lied to the guards and said I was his assistant. While not entirely forthright, it wasn't a lie either." Magnus smiled as she picked up a handmade mask. It was white lace with cream accents and pearls around the corner of the eyes. It was very pretty. It made me think of a wedding dress. Magnus handed it to Ashley who smiled excitedly.

"And for you." Magnus said, pulling out another mask. This one was black with sparkles around the eyes and lace trimming the edges.

"Magnus, it's gorgeous." I told her, gently holding it.

"I even saved a few for the boys." Magnus smiled. She pulled one out of the same tub and handed to Will. It was more of a really light brown color and despite the lack of lace, made me think of the one Magnus had given to Ashley.

Will smiled and gave Magnus a nod.

"And of course I saved the best for last." Magnus said with a smile, handing a black silken mask to Henry.

"Ah, Magnus. It's awesome." Henry said with a big smile, holding it up to his face.

"That looks really good on you." I told him with a smile.

"Yeah?" He asked, looking up at me.

I smiled. It made his blue eyes seem even clearer. "Yeah."

"Alright, dears. Go get all dressed up. The boys can meet you in the foyer at 7:30 sharp." Magnus said with a smile.

I nodded and Ashley took my arm, walking us towards the elevator. We stopped at my floor and grabbed my new clothes. We headed up to Ashley's room to change. We tried on four or five outfits a piece. It was kind of fun, but I still felt like I wasn't very good at this being a girl thing. But I slipped on my black dress and a silver belt over top. I put on some eye makeup and Ashley loaned me some silver earrings.

Biggie was on his way down to feed the Abnormals when we stepped into the elevator and told us we looked nice. Ashley wore the red and black dress and put her blonde hair up really pretty. Ashley smiled big at me as the elevator doors opens.

I took a deep breath and stepped out of the elevator. The guys gushed over Ashley and her dress and I was starting to worry that I wouldn't compare. I told myself to stop being a chicken shit and I rounded the corner. When Henry's eyes landed on me, he just froze. I was starting to internally hyperventilate when he moved over towards me.

"You look… amazing." He told me, his eyes finally landing on mine.

I smiled and could feel my cheeks warm up and I finally had three seconds to take in his outfit. He wore black slacks, a white long sleeve, a black vest and a silver tie that matched the belt around my hips. "You look amazing yourself." I said, lacking words to describe how gorgeous of a man he was.

"Ash told me to wear something silver and I see why now." He smiled with a little laugh.

"It brings out your eyes. It's nice." I said with a smile, trying to keep myself from blabbering.

"All ready?" Magnus asked with a smile as she came out of the elevator. "Ashley, you look lovely."

"Thanks." Ashley said with a big smile.

"As do you, William." Magnus told him.

He grinned a little.

"And you two look dashing together." Magnus smiled at Henry and I.

My blush deepened and I ducked my head. Henry grinned and took my hand, holding onto my fingers.

"Alright you crazy kids. Let's go party." Ashley said with a smile. She took Will's arm and they led us out to the garage. Will and Henry kindly helped us into the car, making sure to tuck in Ashley's dress before closing the door and Will drove us into the better part of Old City, parking in a parking garage.

We stepped out and walked the two blocks to the old warehouse where the masquerade was being held. I was confused; there were flashes of light everywhere. I suddenly felt like I landed on one of those red carpet events that they had on TV. "What is all this?" I asked out loud, slipping my mask on before getting too close.

"I may or may not have told them Jennifer Lopez was coming." Ashley smiled with a twinkle in her eye. I laughed and Henry smiled as I took his arm. Some of the paparazzi were asking who everybody was, hoping to get a lead on why they were here at eight on a Friday night. Ashley waved like she was in a beauty pageant and Will smiled politely, giving small waves as the camera flashes went off.

Meanwhile, Henry and I were doing our best to skirt the cameras as much as possible. I knew Henry could be shy, but I was glad I wasn't the only one trying to hide my face more than the mask already was.

We paid at the door and I could feel the bass thumping through the soles of my heels before I even saw the disco ball or the black light. I smiled, seeing Ash's dress glow neon red under the black light. "You look so pretty." I informed her, leaning close so I didn't have to scream.

She smiled and gestured back at me.

I grinned, just happy to be out of the Sanctuary for a couple hours. I looked around and there was a bunch of girls in elaborate costumes and guys in three piece suits. I knew I was right where I was supposed to be, despite the differences I knew I had with these people. The power, the brilliance of the whole evening was that I didn't have to be me. Surely, I could have if I wanted to. But the simple piece of fabric and lace covering the top section of my face gave me a little bit of courage.

"Having fun?" Henry asked, his lips nearly brushing my ear.

I smiled up at him, feeling the bass in my legs. I simply nodded, not wanting to get into his personal space, but not wanting to yell either.

Ashley grabbed my hand and yanked me away from Henry, towards the crowded dance floor. I smiled at her and let the music flow through me. I didn't know how long we'd been dancing, but I tapped her arm and threw a thumb over my shoulder in the direction of the bar.

"What can I get you ladies?" The bartender asked, not looking impressed with his evening.

"Raspberry margarita for the blond and a seven and seven for the brunette." Henry said, suddenly appearing over my shoulder.

"Should I be worried that you know my favorite mixed drink?" I asked him with a smile.

The mask framing his crystal blue eyes made my heart stutter and I hoped her couldn't hear it over the pop music playing from speakers above us.

"Wild guess." He said with a smile.

I grinned and ducked my head as he graciously paid for our drinks. I took a sip of mine as he gently wrapped his arm around my waist and led Ashley and I up to the second level that had table and chairs.

Will sat at a table for four, looking out at the crowd of dancers below us.

"Are you having fun?" I asked him, a little loudly.

He smiled. "Sure."

I shook my head, knowing he wasn't telling the full truth. I sipped my drink, letting the ice melt into the concoction of whiskey and seven up.

The music played several fast paced songs before it came to something slow. "Would you care to dance?" Henry asked, leaning so close, I could feel his breath on my neck.

It took every ounce of self-control I had not to swallow the lump in my throat. I nodded, turning to look at him. He smiled, standing up and holding out his hand to me.

I smiled back, feeling the blush creep into my face and I was thankful it was dark. Henry guided me down the stairs and to the dance floor, keeping me close. He pulled me flush against him and I felt my heart stutter again.

"Are you alright?" He asked, leaning down to whisper in my ear.

I nodded slowly. "Yeah." I said, not being able to come up with a good excuse.

"Tell me." He said, slowly dancing us in circles.

I smiled up at him, and for a moment, I just looked at him. I took in his features from his hair that was perfectly styled, to his eyes framed by the black silky mask, to his lips that gave a little quirk. "I'm really happy."

He smiled at me, revealing vibrant white teeth. "I'm glad." He said, pulling me back against him as we stayed to the music that surrounded us. Now, with the slow music playing and Henry holding me close, it was easy to forget I was in a room with a couple hundred other people. The white noise faded away and it was just Henry and I slow dancing in nice clothes.

My little fantasy was interrupted by fast paced music and other bodies pushing against me in an attempt to dance. Henry led me back up to the second floor deck where Ashley and Will were in an intimate conversation about why the dangerous section of the Sanctuary was called 'The Shoe.'

"You guys looked great on the dance floor." Ash popped off when Henry and I were both seated in leather chairs.

"Well it's all about having a good lead." I said, with a glance over at Henry.

He didn't say anything, just shook his head and waved the comment off.

The evening continued much the same; Ash and I danced to every fast paced song, grabbing a drink after, sitting while we cooled down a little, Henry and I slow dancing.

Will was trying to talk us into leaving for the night when a lady in the DJ booth picked up a microphone and told the DJ to kill the music.

"Good evening everyone. Are you all having fun?" She asked.

The crowd erupted.

"Good, good. Quickly, I'd like to announce the winners of our little contests tonight. The winner of the Best Mask contest goes to Silvia Rollins." The lady said and another girl made her way through the crowd. She was definitely older and her mask was gold with intricate wire wings coming off it. You could see it clearly from the other side of the room, even without Henry's super senses.

"The winner of the Best Outfit contest goes to Randall Kelly." The lady said. A man started to make his way up the stairs with a smile on his face. He was dressed in what I thought to be a Victorian era style of clothes. He wore black pants and a red top, both with gold stitching and a kind of cape that hung over his left shoulder.

We cheered and clapped. Ashley grinned, looking over at me. _What's her issue?_ I thought, feeling a smirk form on my lips.

"And the winner of the Best Couple contest goes to Henry Foss and Karsen Winters." The lady said and I paused, looking over at Ashley with an open mouth.

She grinned and pulled me to my feet, pushing me towards Henry, who looked nearly as confused as I did. Ash pushed us again and Henry's feet moved better than mine, because he took my hand and led us through the crowd.

We got cheers and applause and I was having a difficult time processing what was happening. But we stood in front of the lady and she grinned, like she lived for this kind of thing. She pulled a silver wire crown out of a box on the table in front of her and she put it on top of Henry's head. Then she pulled a tiara made out of the same silver wire out of another box and placed it on my head.

Henry smiled down at me, taking my hand and placing a kiss on my knuckles. I leaned up and kissed his jaw line. More cheers and applause. Henry and I thanked the lady and made our way back to the table where Ashley and Will sat.

"I can't believe you did that." I told her as she hugged me.

"It's all nomination voted. It's not my fault they picked you." Ashley smiled.

"You do look devilishly handsome in a crown." I told Henry, straightening the wire piece ever so slightly.

"And you look ravishing regardless." Henry smiled, a slight accent coating his words.

I ducked my head in hopes of hiding the warmth creeping back into my cheeks.

"Alright. They won their little crowns. Can we go home now?" Will asked and he made me think of a small child.

Ash rolled her eyes and sighed, standing up. "Yes, we can go." She told us.

I was glad that Ashley took Will's arm, even though they seemed to be having a thing between them. I took Henry's elbow and we strolled along behind Ashley and Will.

"Did you have fun?" Henry asked, pulling off his mask, but making sure his crown was intact.

I smiled. "Yeah, I did. It was a lot of fun." I told him.

He grinned. We were almost back to the parking garage when Henry stopped in his tracks. He tilted his head and I conjured a thought of a dog scenting the air. Then his eyes darted to the right side of the street, the side I faced.

"What is it?" I asked him.

He turned around quickly, his head still tilted. "We're surrounded." He said.

Two guys popped out of the alley Henry was facing and I heard two more thunder across the street. One of them aimed to grab me, but my reflexes took over and I punched him square in the face, breaking his nose.

He groaned loudly, cupping his face as blood poured.

Another of them grabbed me from behind and threw me against the wall. I tried to wiggle out of his grip, but he held strong. My mind flashed between seeing a man in a hooded man and the street light in the background to a stone room with blood running down the walls and a man in a lab coat standing over me.

I was starting to hyperventilate when the guy was suddenly knocked off me, sending me to the ground with them. It was Henry; he was struggling with the masked man. He kept hitting him, over and over. I quickly got to my feet and pulled on Henry's shoulders, trying to get him off before he killed the guy.

He snapped at me, turning his head. His blue eyes were golden yellow and his mouth was elongated into a snout of sorts, making him resemble some kind of dog.

I gasped, stepping backwards.

But he must've realized what he was doing. The anger in his yellow eyes melted away and was replaced with fear. He turned his head away from me and hunched his shoulders so I couldn't see his face anymore.

"Henry. It's ok." I said, moving closer to him, gently resting my hand on his back.

His shoulders heaved with heavy breaths and I figured the way his breath sounded jagged, he was human again. "Are you alright?" He asked, still not looking at me.

"I'm fine. Are you ok?" I asked, trying to keep the worry out of my voice.

He nodded, before standing up. I glanced to my right, up the street. The three that had escaped Henry were nowhere in sight. Will was helping Ashley up off the ground. She looked like she'd gotten in a fight, but she didn't look too bad for wear.

I heard a clinking noise and saw Henry lean down to pick up my tiara. It must've fallen off when I'd got pushed against the wall. "Thank you." I said quietly as I took it from him. I felt no need to put it back on my head; besides, it gave me something I could do with my hands to keep them from shaking.

"Are you ok?" Will asked.

I nodded, looking over at Henry who was purposely avoiding eye contact with anyone. "We're fine." He said.

Will nodded, his gaze floating between Henry and I. "Your dress is torn."

I looked down at the black materiel and cursed. "I just bought this dress." I said, examining how it had been torn from the knee up to my thigh.

"Let's get home." Ash said, coming to take my hand.

I nodded and Will drove us home. It was eerily quiet. Henry wouldn't look anywhere except out of his window and Will kept glancing at me in the rearview mirror.

When we pulled into the garage, Henry was almost out of the car before Will even had it in park. And by the time I climbed out with every intention of going after him, he was gone. Magnus and Biggie met us as we entered the house.

"Are you alright?" Magnus asked, her eyes floating over the three of us.

We nodded and Ash and Will both glanced at me. "Stop staring at me like I have a third head." I said, forcing calm that I didn't have. It wasn't that I was upset he was a werewolf. I'd dated worse guys than a werewolf. It was just the combination of getting attacked and seeing him have changed so suddenly; I was sure I was going into shock of some sort.

"I wanted to inform you of Henry's abnormality, but he insisted to keep it from you." Magnus said.

"It wasn't your place." Biggie said, setting his hand on Magnus's shoulder.

"Doc, please. It's not the first time I've seen a werewolf. I'm more upset because of…" I stopped, realizing what I was talking about. They didn't need to know about the flashbacks or the fact I couldn't tell things were real sometimes. I'd already told Will more than I'd originally planned to.

"Because of what?" Magnus asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing. Bad memories. I'm gonna get out of this dress. See if I can salvage it." I told them all.

I took a deep breath as I hit the button for the elevator and rode it up in silence. I closed my bedroom door behind me and slowly slid down the dark brown wood, pulling my knees up to my chest. My right knee stuck out of the fabric where it'd been ripped almost all the way up. I sighed and stood up, going over to my dresser. I stepped out of the dress and pulled out a tank top and a pair of sweat pants.

I pulled them on and sat down at my desk, hoping I could work out what happened with the Prince and the peasant girl. But when I picked up the pen to write, my hands shook so badly, I couldn't read my own writing.

Getting frustrated, I stood and threw the pen as hard as I could against the wall. Miraculously, it ended up in the wall, sticking straight out like a throwing star.

I sighed, running my shaking hands through my hair and giving it a good tug. I looked out the window at the sparkling city below me. It was similar to looking up at the night sky out in the middle of nowhere; the city lights resembled stars.

Glancing at the door, I wondered how Henry was doing. He had to be taking this hard. He'd tried so hard to keep what he was away from me, only to show me by saving my life. I tapped my fingers against the desk, wishing I could rid myself of this nervous energy.

I shook my head. I was being stupid. Henry was my friend; werewolf or hamster-man or Superman. _Although, it'd be weird going out with a Hamster-Man._ I thought briefly to myself before heading for the door. I quietly pulled it open, hoping no one was keeping watch on my room.

And as my luck would have it, Will stood there, looking like he was about to knock on my door.

"Uh, hey. Magnus wants to talk to you."

I sighed. Could this get any better?


	14. Talks, Trinkets, and Terrible Movies

So Will led me to the elevator and up to Magnus' office, where she sat at a set of computers. "Oh good, you've changed. William, will you excuse us?" Magnus asked, looking over my shoulder.

"Sure thing." He said with a nod, closing the door behind him.

"Magnus, if this is like a liability thing, like I have to sign a waiver that says I'm not gonna kill Henry, you don't have to worry about it. I really like Henry. I'd never, ya know…" I trailed off, noticing the look I was receiving.

"No, this is nothing of the sort. I decided you needed to be informed of the workings of werewolves." She told me, moving to sit on the little love seat, gesturing for me to sit across from her.

"I like to think I know the workings of werewolves." I said, but then I realized how terrible that kind of sounded.

Magnus smiled and it made me think of a smile a mom might give an ignorant child who kept arguing. "Are you aware that werewolves, like any other animal, can fall in love?"

I paused, watching her. "Um… I honestly hadn't thought much about it." I said weakly.

She nodded, standing to retrieve a book from her bookcase. "Wolves in the wild are generally monogamous, however not always. Much like humans, if a mate dies or gets moved lower in the pack, wolves can choose a new mate." Magnus started, flipping through her book.

"Doc, I don't mean any disrespect, but what do wild wolves have to do with anything?" I asked, hoping to tread lightly.

"Werewolves are different from their feral counterparts in this aspect. They either pick a mate for life, or they never mate at all." Magnus said, eye glancing over the book before she handed it to me.

Nervously, I took the book from her. "Magnus, I still… I don't get it."

"Read the section on the page on the right side. About half way down the page." She said told, setting back against the loveseat.

I took a quick breath. "Wild wolves are naturally monogamous creatures that mate for life. As werewolves are only half wolf, some become very selective, exclusive lovers, while others are more polygamous. This often depends on their human lifestyle. A bonded werewolf mates for life. Once they find someone, they are with that lover until their lover dies. Some werewolves recover slowly from such a death and move on. However, others remain permanently attached for the rest of their lives and never search out someone else." I paused, looking up at Magnus. She gestured for me to continue reading.

"Werewolves may also soul bond. Werewolves may feel the need to soul bond to another as an expression of their loyalty and devotion, and others may feel the need to soul bond because of a spiritual connection. The term 'soul bond' is defined as a spiritual marriage of souls. Two wolves who deliberately exchange blood become soul bonded. They may also exchange small trinkets, to act as a conduit to ground the soul bond connection. These trinkets are often kept on the werewolf's person at all times, and removal of the object can result in a soul bond 'tearing'. Soul bonded werewolves can hear each other's thoughts, feel each other's pain and, ultimately, they will die whenever the other does, simultaneously. Soul bonds are incredibly rare and only a few soul bonded werewolves have been documented." I finished.

I sat there for a moment before looking back up at Magnus. She watched me carefully. "Does this… Did Henry…" I couldn't seem to figure out how to get the words out of my mouth.

Magnus gave a small smile. "Henry himself did not do this, so if you do not share his feelings, I beg you not blame the boy. A few days ago, when he kissed you in the library, how was it?"

I blinked, wondering if I'd heard her correctly. "How… was it?"

"Yes." She said with a nod.

I thought about it for a moment. "It was nice, I guess?" I said, suddenly feeling awkward.

"Think about it for a moment." She told me, looking like she was getting comfortable on the couch.

I rubbed the back of my neck. "It was comforting. It was like a surprise I knew was coming, but didn't know when. And when he pulled away, I felt kind of cold, like he had warmed me up." I said, biting my lip as I looked at her.

Magnus smiled. "You felt it then."

"Magnus, I don't care how much Henry likes me or his wolf likes me, I'm not exchanging blood, or whatever." I said, looking back down at the book to see where it had said that before.

Magnus laughed and I suddenly felt uneasy, like she might pull out a dagger and make me. "No, no definitely not. Only another werewolf would exchange blood with a werewolf. The bit about trinkets was implemented when Teddy Roosevelt met his second wife, Edith."

I blinked slowly. "You aren't telling me that President Theodore Roosevelt was a werewolf."

She smiled again. "He was indeed. Teddy was one of the very first werewolves to soul bond with a human."

I thought about it for a moment. "But, I'm not actually… human, right? I'm an abnormal, like Henry."

"Being a human is a rather broad term. Are you more human than animals? Absolutely. But are you entirely human? Not quite. But neither am I. I believe Will and Ashley to be the only ones here who can vouch for that position." She told me.

I nodded, my eyes drifting to the book in my hands. "Henry means a lot to me. Which is confusing because even though I don't remember before Crowley got me, I know deep down I've never felt for anybody the way I feel for Henry."

Magnus smiled at me. "Think about this thing. Long and hard. If you rush into it, and you're not ready, you may end up hurting both of yourselves more than you can possibly imagine."

I nodded. "Let's say I was to soul bond with Henry. What kind of trinket would I give him?"

Magnus thought about it for a moment. "Necklaces and rings usually work. It's best if the item continuously comes in contact with the skin, not like a button or cuff link."

I nodded. "And it has to be something from me? Something that means something to me?"

She smiled with a nod. "Just don't be giving him trinkets because you think it's the right thing to do." She said, standing up and patting my shoulder. "If you'll excuse me, I have more paperwork than I'd like to let Will handle on his own."

"Yeah, alright. Thanks Doc." I told her, standing up. "Can um… can I borrow this?" I asked, holding up the book she'd shown me.

"As long as you return it." Magnus smiled and nodded.

"Thanks Doc." I told her once more, turning and leaving her office. I made my way back to my room, continuously glancing at the cover of the book. I pulled open my bedroom door and closed it behind me, going to slump down on the bed. The index revealed that there were three different types of werewolves; Irish, European, and Teutonic (German).

After reading most of the book, I'd pegged Henry down as the Irish variety of lupine. The Irish werewolves tended to watch over villages, healed the injured and guided lost strangers to safety. Eventually, they gained a reputation of being under a curse by St. Patrick for some previous transgression committed a long time ago.

At which point, the werewolves were either drove from the country side into hiding or slaughtered for their coat, fangs and claws; many of which were turned into talismans and are still floating around Ireland.

I closed the book and glanced at the window. It was still dark out, but many lights in the city had gone out. I stood up and walked around the room. I didn't have anything to give Henry, if I'd even decide to soul bond with him in the first place. And I still had questions.

Was it like being married forever?

Did this mean Henry was the last person I was going to sleep with? Not that I'd slept with many guys before now anyway.

Did I have to become a werewolf or could I just stay my fire starter self?

The whole blood thing was so far out of play, it wasn't even on the board.

But with all these questions floating around my head and all the nervous butterflies threatening to choke me, in the back of my mind, I knew this was right. It was like something in me clicked and out of everything this crazy new life had thrown at me, this one thing made sense to me.

I walked back over to the bed and pulled my duffle bag out from underneath it. I dug through a few of the inside pockets, wondering if I'd thrown anything in there. As luck would have it, there laid a protection necklace. It had been the one I'd worn constantly before the guys made me get the tattoo. I rolled it around in my fingers. Something in the back of my brain was screaming at me to put it down, walk away from it.

But an ache in my heart made me hold onto the small molded piece of iron and leather cord.

I nodded to myself. I was doing this. But I couldn't think about it, because if I did, I'd stop myself.

So I headed to my bedroom door and popped it open. I decided to take the stairs down a floor to where I knew Henry's room was. This way, there was less chance of me running into Ashley or Biggie. I slowly, cautiously walked up to Henry's door.

Something in my chest tightened when my closed fist came close to knocking on his door. The feeling made me hesitate and pull back. I took, what I thought was, a quite breath and knocked three times, glancing up and down the halls. I didn't want Will or Biggie trying to talk me out of this.

No response from the other side of the door.

I knocked three more times.

No answer from the other side of the Mahogany.

"Henry? Are you in there?" I asked.

I heard something shift on the other side of the door. "Go away, Blaze."

"Hey. That's Miss Freeze to you, mister." I said, hoping to at least get a chuckle from the wood.

I waited a moment in silence.

"Henry. Are you alright?" I asked, a little quieter.

"Please." He sounded like he was begging. "Just go away."

"Is this about the werewolf thing? I don't care, Henry. I swear on my unmarked grave in Ohio. I mean, as long as you've got a hold on it and you obviously do. You've got a better hold on things than I've got on mine. Is that it? I don't have a hold on my shit? Because I'm trying. Honest, Henry, I'm trying. And I'll try harder if that's what you want. I mean, I can-" I said to the Mahogany like it was Henry himself.

"Karsen." Henry's voice said, cutting me off. "Please go away." He sounded like he was in pain.

"Why?" I said weakly. "Tell me why you want me to go away and I'll leave."

"I-I can't be near you." He said so quietly from the other side of the door, I barely heard him.

"That's not a good answer. How often did you leave me while I was unconscious?" I asked him.

There was no answer from behind his door.

I sighed and slumped my back against the door, facing the hallway. The silence continued and I didn't even hear anything shift from the other side. I lightly leaned my head back so it made a gentle banging noise.

"Merrily we fall out of line, out of line. I'll fall anywhere with you, I'm by your side. Swinging in the rain, humming melodies. We're not going anywhere until we freeze." I sang quietly to myself, sliding down the Mahogany and pulling my knees up to my chest.

"Karsen, what are you doing?" I heard from the other side of the door.

"I'm not afraid, anymore. I'm not afraid. Forever is a long time, but I wouldn't mind spending it by your side." I sang quietly, ignoring his question. "Carefully we'll place our destiny. You came and you took this heart, and set it free. Every word you write or sing is so warm to me, so warm to me. I'm torn, I'm torn to be right where you are."

There was shuffling from the other side of the door, like someone was standing up and sitting down.

"I'm not afraid anymore, I'm not afraid. Forever is a long, long time. But I wouldn't mind spending it by your side. Tell me every day I get to wake up to that smile. I wouldn't mind it at all. I wouldn't mind it, at all." I closed my eyes, hearing the song played with instruments in my head.

There was a click and the door swung open, knocking me onto my back in Henry's entrance way. I stared up at him as he towered over me.

"Karsen, what are you doing?" He asked, sounding tired.

"Well, I was singing." I told him.

"Why are you doing it against my door at three in the morning?" He asked.

"I didn't actually know it was three in the morning. I just didn't feel right leaving like a kicked pup." I told him.

He cringed at my analogy. "Go back to your room, Karsen." He told me, turning away from me.

I hopped up quickly, making him pause. "But I have something for you."

He stopped in his tracks, turning his head towards me.

I pulled the necklace out of my pocket and held it closely in my hand, making sure he couldn't see it.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I'm not going to tell you. You either get it or you forfeit it." I told him with a little smile.

Henry paused and I saw his shoulders heave with a sigh as he turned around. "What is it?" He asked, only slightly softer.

"Close your eyes." I told him.

He just closed his eyes and I quickly placed the necklace over his head so it hung down from his shoulders. He opened his eyes and looked confused for a minute, picking the small molded iron piece up. He rolled it around in his fingers for a moment like he was memorizing it.

Henry was silent for a long moment and I bit my lip, starting to get nervous. Maybe Magnus had meant to warn me off from Henry? Had I made the wrong choice?

"What does it mean?" He asked, looking up at me.

"It's an anti-possession necklace." I told him.

"I thought you said monsters didn't need protected?" He asked, a different question hidden in his eyes.

"They don't. But this was mine from the time the guys picked me up to when they made me get the tattoo a couple months ago." I said, ducking my head and shifting nervously.

"I don't understand why you'd be giving this to me." He said.

"Well," I coughed. "I thought swapping blood was a little cult-ish." I told him.

He froze. His fingers didn't roam the iron piece, his eyes weren't searching my face, his breathing had quieted.

"I'm really sorry. It was stupid. I shouldn't have-" I said, reaching for the leather cord.

His hands caught mine as I touched the leather. "I don't want you to give this to me if you don't understand it."

I swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in my throat. "Magnus, she kind of explained it. She gave me one of the werewolf books to read out of and I'm not gonna lie, it's kind of scary to think about being connected to somebody that way. But maybe that's just because I'm not connected to anybody at all. And I know it's silly, but it said trinkets and this is the only trinket I have. But if you wanted something else-"

Henry cut me off by placing his hand on my cheek and my eyes slipped close. "I think I love you."

His words made something in my chest start vibrating and I just looked up at him. "Really?" I asked.

He smiled. "Yeah."

A grin slowly spread out across my lips. "I think I might like that."

"Well good. Because there's nothing you could do about it if you didn't." He smiled, leaning down towards me.

"Oh, dog boy. I'd burn you at the stake." I said quietly, my eyes floating from his eyes to his lips.

"Now that I believe." He smiled, pressing his lips against mine ever so softly.

My arms wound around his neck as his hands pulled my hips closer to his. Someone clearing their throat made us break apart and turn.

"Soup." Biggie said, obviously trying to hide his smirk.

"Thanks big guy." Henry said, taking the tray from him.

"Good going." Biggie mock whispered, elbowing me as he turned around and left the hallway.

When I turned back around, Henry held his hand out for me and gently tugged on it. I smiled, following him into his bedroom.

* * *

I groaned, not wanting to open my eyes as I rolled over in bed. _God, my bed is so soft._ I thought, trying to pull my pillow closer. When I did this, an arm snaked around my waist, making me jump.

"It's just me." Henry's gravelly voice whispered in my ear, his lips brushing my skin.

And last night came rushing back to me. The dancing, the fight, the wolf-out, my giving Henry the trinket.

"Hey handsome man." I smiled, closing my eyes and pulling him closer to me.

He pulled me tighter and took a big whiff of my hair. "I love your shampoo."

The comment was so random, so off the wall, I smiled. "You're so silly, Fido."

"I'm drawing the line at Fido." He told me, his voice strong.

I shook my head, wanting to bury myself in his bare chest. It was so nice to sleep with somebody without the pressure of sex. We had literally cuddled all night long, with a few wrestling fights in between. And besides the loss of Henry's shirt and the loss of my pants, we hadn't done anything at all.

And it was so nice. I had loved every second of just being there with him.

"Think Magnus will be mad?" I asked him.

He kind of smiled into my hair. "Nah, she knew this would happen. She gave you the book and everything."

I nodded. I guess that was true, but there was still a chance she might have been mad about. I was definitely worried about Will though. I didn't want him to psyche evaluate my evening with Henry. I just wanted to enjoy it.

"Breakfast?" Henry asked.

"If we have to." I told him.

He smiled and kissed my head. "C'mon Human Torch." He said, moving out of my reach and standing up from the bed.

"Flying might make the whole fire thing a lot cooler." I told him, rolling over to watch him dig through his dresser and pull a t-shirt over his head.

Henry smirked over his shoulder at me at my choice of words. I yawned and decided to get out of bed. I found my jeans and pulled them on, buckling my belt over my hips.

Henry came back around the bed while I buckled my belt and snaked his arms around my waist. I wiggled in his arms until I was facing him. I smiled up at him and he kissed my forehead, making my smile spread.

"To breakfast?" He asked, holding out his arm for me.

"To breakfast." I agreed, looping my arm through his.

He walked us out of the room, closed the door behind us and headed towards the elevator.

"You two have a good night?" Biggie asked, obviously trying not to smirk.

"Yes, thank you." Henry said, giving me a smile.

God it was hard not to smile around him.

Biggie chuckled and when the elevator dinged, he got out before us, heading for the same place we were.

Magnus, Ashley, and Will were already sitting at the table. Biggie had switched Henry spots at the table so he'd be sitting next to me instead of across from me.

"Good morning." Magnus said with a smile.

"Morning doc." I said, sitting down next to Henry.

"Did you both work things through a bit?" Magnus asked.

"Yeah, doc. I think so." Henry smiled, taking my hand.

"Excellent." She said, cutting into her stack of waffles.

* * *

The rest of the day was spent running around Old City looking for a frog-looking creature. I couldn't remember what it was called; its name was originally Latin for something like 'hate breed' or 'water revenge.'

By the time we got back to the Sanctuary, we were all beat. Biggie suggested a movie night in and we all agreed. First came Sharknado, then Land of the Snake Men. Biggie left right before we started Spiders on Parade which was more creepy than actually scary.

"Why do we always end up watching bad B rated movies?" Will asked.

"I have no idea, but I love it." Ashley smiled.

Will shook his head.

I just kinda of smiled and went back to watching the show. Henry and I sat on opposites ends of the long, L shaped couch, with Ash sprawled out in the middle of the curve and Will resting stiffly in one of the recliners. Ash insisted we'd sit next to each other at the beginning of the movie because she had a tendency to gossip during movies. But I was much more interested in the movie, however bad it was, than in telling her anything about Henry and me.

The way I figured it, Henry had grown up with her; known her much longer than I had. If he wanted to tell her about us or what we were doing, he could. But I didn't feel like it was right for her to find things out through me, even though we were the same gender. And when she found that out, she was much more comfortable laying out in the middle of the couch.

I hooted as the shark-octopus monster on the screen killed some random by-standard. Will rolled his eyes and stood up. "This is ridiculous. I have feeding reports more interesting than this." He said, waving a hand to the screen before he turned and head for the door.

"Oh, you're just mad because we never get to see Abnormals this cool." Henry smiled up at him as he walked by.

"The chances of a mutated shark octopus creature popping up in Old City is none." Will stated.

"Oh, don't go away mad. Just go away." I tossed, never taking my eyes off the screen.

Ash giggled. "Good one."

Will huffed and I saw him exit the rec room out of the corner of my eye.

It'd been maybe ten minutes before Biggie came into the room and glanced at the screen. "Octo-sharks Attack?" He asked.

I grinned. "Darn right."

"At least it's not Spiders on Parade." Biggie said.

"We just finished that one. It's creepy." Ash said, shivering to exaggerate her point.

Biggie nodded. "Your mom's looking for you." He said, looking at Ashley.

She gave a big sigh before standing up and walking with Biggie out of the room.

Instinctively, I went back to watching the show. Suddenly, Henry sat down next to me, making me look up at him. "Hey stranger." I told him.

"Hey yourself." He said, entwining his long fingers with mine and kissing me on the cheek.

"How's my wolf man?" I asked, moving closer to him.

"Amazing. How's my fire starter?" He asked me with a smile.

"Perfect." I smiled, kissing his cheek.

He smiled. "So I've got an errand to run in Old City later. I asked Biggie to help you with the feedings."

"No problem." I said, kissing his cheek again before going back to the movie.


	15. Dangerous Dreams

Biggie and I finished the evening feedings and he went off to finish his novel. I wandered aimlessly for a little while before I went back up to my room. I sat at my desk and realized I only had two more pages left before I'd need a new book. I would've asked Henry to get me one, but he'd left a while ago for Old City. I shrugged to myself. I'd have to manage I guess. In the meantime, I filled up the last two pages of the book with my Prince and the peasant girl story.

When I'd filled the last page with writing, I looked up at the last few rays of sun light glinting off the water in the distance. I smiled to myself. I was enjoying being alive for the first time since I'd woken up on the street, I realized. I had a place I could call a home. I had friends that wanted to look out for me. I wasn't lighting things on fire every time I turned around.

"You look happy." A voice said and I jumped, startled by the sudden noise.

I turned to look at Henry, propped up against the door jamb. "I'd like to think I am. Which only means there's something terrible around the bend." I told him, ducking my head and looking back at the window.

"Just because something good is happening, doesn't mean something bad follows." He told me, coming closer to me.

"It does in my experience." I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Why do you say that?" Henry asked softly.

I shrugged, thinking for a moment. "I feel like something bad is coming. Something big and bad."

Henry pulled me into a hug and I pulled him close, breathing in his scent. It was like hair gel and burnt metal. "If I ask you something, will you answer honestly?"

I pulled back, looking up at him. "Of course."

"I don't know if you believe in marriage or not and that's not what I'm asking; you to marry me. That's a big commitment. I don't know what you think about it or if you even want to, ya know get married at some point. Which would be fine with me if you did or didn't, but I just…" He trailed off, fiddling with something in his pocket. "Will you be mine?" He asked, holding up a ring. It was silver with two hands holding a heart and on top of the heart was a crown.

I blinked rapidly, trying to process the situation. "What? Yes, yes. Of course I will." I smiled, remembering I had to say something.

Henry smiled wide and slid the ring onto my finger. "It's a Claddagh ring. It's a traditional ring, from where I'm originally from in Scotland. The hands mean friendship, the crown means loyalty, and the heart means love. When you wear it with the point in, it means you're somebody's."

I smiled up at him. "I didn't know you're from Scotland."

"Originally. It's where Magnus found me when I was little." He said, ducking his head a little.

I gave him a peck on the cheek. "It doesn't matter the circumstances, because you're here with me now." I said, giving him a hug.

I could feel him smile into my hair when he leaned down. "You're amazing."

"I'm semi-ordinary." I shrugged with a smile.

"You're the most extraordinary person I've ever met." Henry said sincerely, looking deeply into my eyes.

I ducked my head, feeling a blush coming on.

"And I uh, I stopped at a place in town and got you this." Henry said. He pulled a book out of his back pocket that I hadn't noticed had been there. It was a journal, barely smaller than the one I had just finished. The cover was pretty, abstract colors dancing around.

"You… got me a notebook?" I asked, feeling a lump form in my throat.

"Do you not like it? I'm sorry. Should I have got something else?" He asked, looking worried.

I shook my head. I quickly took a breath and hugged him tightly. "Thank you." I whispered against his shoulder.

He held me close. "Are you alright?"

"You're the sweetest man I've ever encountered. I'll just have to adjust accordingly." I said with a little laugh.

He squeezed me before letting me go. "I'd appreciate the adjustment."

I smiled, looking down at the pretty cover of the book. "This was very sweet. It means a lot to me." I told him.

He kissed my forehead. "How's your story coming?"

I nodded. "Not terrible. I just need to figure out how the Prince meets the peasant girl."

"Can I sit with you while you write?" He asked.

"Well if you're going to sit with me, I won't write." I told him.

"No, please. I want to see you enjoy your new book. I'm fine to just watch." Henry said.

"It's a good thing I like you because that would be creepy as hell otherwise." I told him.

He nodded with a laugh, sitting down on the couch.

I shook my head, sitting down at the desk. I picked up in the new book right where I left off in the old book. I loved the way the pen felt between my fingers, the way the ink swirled around on the page, magically forming pictures that made sense in the back on my mind.

"What was that song you sang to me, last night?" Henry asked from over my shoulder.

I turned around to see him holding a bowl of ice cream out to me. "Oh, thank you. I didn't even hear you leave." I said, feeling guilty.

"You get kinda lost in that world." Henry smiled at me.

I still felt bad. "Yeah, I guess. Too much time in an impala with classic rock constantly blaring."

"That song wasn't classic rock." Henry smiled as he took a bite of his creamy treat.

I put my pen down and joined him on the couch. "It's called 'I Wouldn't Mind'. One of those songs that Dean would gouge his ears off if you forced him to listen to." I smiled.

"It's beautiful. I should've told you last night."

I smiled. "It's one of the only love songs I can remember besides 'I Can't Fight This Feeling' and 'Hot Blooded'."

He grinned and then his smile slipped away.

"What?" I asked, suddenly concerned.

He shook his head and turned to face his ice cream bowl.

"No. What was that?" I asked, laying my hand on his knee.

"I just was thinking." He told me.

"About what?" I asked.

He glanced up at me before spooning some ice cream into his mouth and grabbing my face, gently pressing his lips against mine.

I melted like the ice cream as soon as he touched me. But there was something about the ice cream that made the kiss erotic. The sensation of the ice cream slipping between our tongues was like running an ice cube down my back; cold and tauntingly exhilarating. I leaned towards him, my hands on his shoulders pulling him closer while his hands tangled in my hair.

Ever so gently, he broke away and his breathing was just as heavy as mine. His eyes were a little bigger than normal. "Whoa." He murmured. "That was…" He trailed off.

I leaned down to take another bite of ice cream and kissed him again. His hands moved to my hips. He grabbed me and pulled me onto his lap with little effort. I pushed on his shoulders so he was leaning against the back of the couch and I kissed from his lips to his neck. As I kissed downwards, I nipped at his skin.

A growl escaped Henry's lips and made his chest vibrate pleasantly, making me pull back. Henry looked horrified and tried to move, but I was sitting square on top of him.

"Was that you, Henry Foss?" I asked.

"I, uh I'm sorry. That doesn't… that doesn't normally happen." Henry said, shifting like he wanted to just throw me off his lap.

I tilted my head and gave a little smile. I leaned down and gently bit at the same section of skin.

Another growl came from Henry, sounding like it was mixed with a moan.

"Karsen. If you keep doing that, I won't…" He said, looking pained. "I won't be able to stop."

I ran my hands from his shoulders down his chest slowly. "Why do you want me to stop, Henry?"

He looked like he was having a bit of an inner struggle. "I don't want to hurt you."

I smiled, remembering how much pain I'd been in when I'd said those same words to him. A mouthful of smoke, fumes coming off me, crouched over holding my sides to keep from burning alive. "Then don't hurt me." I whispered gently.

"Is this real?" He asked quietly.

"Does it feel real?" I whispered in his ear as I pushed against him.

His breathing was heavy and a small moan of pleasure left him. "Yes." He said, breathily.

I leaned down and bit a little harder into the patch of skin on his neck.

A half snarl half moan came from his lips, echoing through his chest. He gripped my hips and easily lifted me off the couch. He carried me to the bed and set me down without difficulty. "Last chance." He warned me, his voice getting huskier.

"Well, if you want me to leave-" I started, but was cut short by his mouth roughly against mine.

* * *

A cool breeze brushed my skin and made me shiver.

"Wake up deary." A Scottish voice drifted over me.

I groaned and rolled over. It took me five seconds to realize where I knew the voice from. I bolted upright, making sure the sheet was covering me.

"Mmmm darling. You look ravishing in nothing." Crowley said, standing in front of me in his traditional black suit, a hell hound on each side of him.

Frantically, I looked around. I wasn't in my bedroom anymore; I was in the middle of a grassy field. Off in the distance stood a single tall tree and besides the sun in the sky, that was the only visible landmark.

"Where am I? What are you doing?" I asked. I was a lot more worried about the fact I was naked instead of the fact I was literally nowhere.

"Oh darling. Tsk tsk. We can get to that in a minute." Crowley said, his eyes roving over me.

"No, goddammit. Where am I?" I shouted at him.

He smirked. "All work and no play, as they say."

"Crowley!" I yelled again.

"Fine, fine. You're never any fun anymore since you met the werewolf. How's he doing by the way?" Crowley asked, as if he actually cared.

I gritted my teeth and stared him down.

"Alright fine then. As a courtesy to your Sanctuary, I'm giving you a fair warning to your demise." Crowley stated, very business-like.

"Demise? What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Oh, darling. Did I not mention? How forgetful of me. I plan to kill you." He said with a smile as he pet the hell hound on his right.

"And you're warning me why?" I asked him.

"I've been in that Sanctuary of yours. Some of those monsters don't need to see the light of day ever again. And I'd rather not spend useless man hours putting them back in a cage." Crowley shrugged.

"You… want me to evacuate the Sanctuary so you can kill me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"At the very least lock it down." Crowley said with a devious smile.

"Screw you." I spat.

"That can readily be arranged." He said, winking at me and I was suddenly worried.

Crowley snapped his fingers. In the same instant that he disappeared, the bright green grass below my bed turned red and it boiled. Hands came up from the boiling liquid followed by the rest of dozens of bodies. It took me a moment, but I realized they were people I knew.

Will, Ashley, Magnus, Biggie, Dean, Sam, Bobby. My breath caught when I saw Henry. They all looked just like the zombies from the movies and I didn't realize their only goal was me until Ash grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into the horde.

I screamed and thrashed, trying to break away from them. Something bit into my leg and I screamed in pain.

Suddenly, I was laying in bed, panting and covered in sweat. Henry's face was above mine, looking scared.

"Are you alright?" He asked, pulling me up into his arms.

I didn't protest, wrapping my arms around his neck tightly. "I had the worst dream."

"It was a night terror. You were screaming and I tried to wake you up, but you wouldn't." He told me, worry coating his voice.

"I'm sorry. It was terrible." I said, turning my head to lay it on his shoulder and I saw a big black spot on the carpet about four foot wide. I lifted my head to get a better look, pulling away from him slightly. "Did I…"

"Yeah. The first one in a long time. It's ok. It's just carpet." He told me, pulling me back to him.

"I'm sorry. Are you ok?" I asked, pushing him away enough to look over him.

"I'm fine." He said. "Are you ok?" He asked slowly, carefully.

My first reaction was to say yes. But then I'd be lying to him.

"Karsen. You put this necklace on me. You took the ring from me. My soul is intertwined with yours for the rest of my life. I can feel the fear in your veins and the unsteadiness of your heart." Henry told me, taking my face in his hands. "You have to tell me what's wrong."

I nodded slowly, looking away from him. I couldn't tell him I was going to die while looking him in the eye. "Crowley says he's going to kill me." I whispered, as if saying it any louder would break the room apart.

Henry was quiet for a long moment before I slowly turned to look up at him. "No he's not."

I opened and closed my mouth before hugging him. His arms wrapped tightly around me, holding my skin against his. "Henry, you don't understand the will of this demon."

"I don't care. He's not getting to you. I'll die first." He told me.

I shook my head, burying my face in his shoulder to try to hold my tears back. "He'll just kill you too."

"Better than being alone here without you." He whispered, running his fingers through my hair.

"You don't know what you're saying." I told him, pulling away and standing up. I walked over to the window and looked down at the city below.

"Karsen. I can't live without you." Henry said, from behind me, gently placing his hands on my hips.

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course you can. And if this kills me," I started.

"Nothing's killing you." Henry said sharply.

I turned around to look him in the eye. "You have to understand that there's a possibility I'll be dead before the days out. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have given you the necklace. Because I knew at some point this would catch up to me. I knew Crowley would get his claws into me again, but I let my feelings take control of my brain. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Henry just watched me for a moment. "You're… sorry?"

"Henry, I like you a lot. More than I've ever liked anybody. I might even love you if we got a chance to actually be together. But Crowley is going to kill me."

While I was talking, Henry had taken a step back, away from me. I couldn't hide the hurt I felt, but then I couldn't blame him. I was pushing him away. But I didn't want to see him killed because he loved me.

The hurt in Henry's eyes burned holes in me and I cringed, ducking my head.

"I can't believe you'd do this to me. You knew the repercussions. You knew what would happen when you gave me that necklace, but you still did it." Henry said, shaking his head before turning and leaving my room.

Until that moment, I hadn't realized what Henry meant when he said he loved me. I didn't understand the feeling until I saw him walk away from me, because of me. I wanted to bring him back and just hold him, even if he was still mad at me. I wanted to just touch him and kiss him and ease the pain in his heart that I brought on him.

I clenched my eyes closed as a tear drop fell down my face. I took a deep breath and wiped it away. My chest ached and my limbs felt like they were going numb, but I knew what I had to do.

Quickly, I dressed in some of my older clean clothes. I knew what I had to do and where I had to get it. I grabbed my wallet full of fake credit cards and made sure I had nothing shiny showing. I grabbed my nine millimeter and checked the mag before sliding it back into the butt of the gun. I placed it in the waistband of my jeans, making sure my shirt fell over it.

I nodded to myself before heading for the door. I grabbed the elevator up to Magnus's office. I knocked on her door, seeing Will sit on the couch across from her. "Hey, sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt."

"No, of course not. Come in." Magnus said with a welcoming smile I couldn't return.

"I need to run into town for a couple things. Just wanted to clear it with you first." I told her.

"Of course. Are you taking Henry?" Magnus asked.

I reached up to rub the back of my neck. "Uh, no. He's uh… busy. I won't be gone long." I said.

"I'd feel much better if you'd take someone with you." Magnus said in her mom voice.

"I'll go with you." Will volunteered.

"Excellent. Let me know when you've returned." Magnus said with a smile, moving to her computer desk.

I took a breath and blew it out. "C'mon doc. Burnin' daylight." I told the shrink.

He nodded and came to stand next to me. I turned and headed for the kitchen. I didn't want to really explain that I didn't know where I was going just yet. I figured if anywhere had a phonebook, it'd be in the kitchen. He followed quietly, which, honestly, kind of unnerved me.

I started going through drawers when I heard a thump. I looked over to see a phone book on the counter next to Will, who was leaning against the wall. "Looking for this?"

"It's possible." I told him, picking it up and thumbing through it until I got to the novelty section. I didn't really want to wander Chinatown until I found the right novelty shop. "You drivin', doc?" I asked, tearing the page out of the book.

"Sure." He said simply, leading the way to the garage.

I climbed in the passenger side while he got behind the wheel and started the engine. "You're awful quiet, doc. It's starting to freak me out a little bit."

"I've found that if you want to talk to someone, you do. If you don't, then there's not much of a point." Will told me.

I nodded, feeling more sting in his words then I knew he intended. "I'm sorry, about that."

He looked over at me for a moment, before turning back to the road. "You and Henry got into it, huh?"

I nodded, glancing out the window. "Yeah, I guess I forgot I'd end up getting him killed. Oh, yeah. Chinatown, if you'd be so kind." I told him.

"What do you mean?" Will asked.

"The stuff I need is in Chinatown." I told him.

"No. What do you mean you'd end up getting Henry killed?" Will asked.

I sighed. "I'd tell you, but I don't think you can keep very good secrets. So let's just leave it at I'm in trouble and by association, Henry's in trouble."

Will was quiet for a moment. "Are we getting things to help protect him?"

I nodded. "We're getting things to protect all of you."

"But not yourself?" He asked, catching my slip of tongue.

I sighed. "Everybody dies doc. My number already got called, so me? I'm living on borrowed time. But if it kills me, your number isn't getting called today."

"Does Henry know?" Will asked.

"It's what we were fighting about. He told me he couldn't keep on living if I died and I told him he was stupid." I said, looking down at my lap.

"Henry's belief in life and love are deeply rooted in his werewolf side. You couldn't change his mind on either of them." Will told me as he parked the car in an alley.

I nodded. "I kinda caught onto that." I told him.

Will gave me a little smile before we got out of the car.

"Alright, Wong Cho's Emporium of Spiritual Relics." I said, reading the name from the phonebook.

"And what exactly are we looking for?" Will asked.

"Goofer dust." I told him, feeling no need to explain what the Goofer dust was used for.

"Alright. It should be around the corner." Will said, glancing at the address.

I let him lead the way through Chinatown. I didn't want to make him feel useless, so I let him navigate while I enjoyed the views. It didn't matter where you were, Chinatown always looked the same. It made me smile.

"Here we go." Will said, looking up at the sign in front of us.

"Good goin', doc." I told him, handing him the scrap of paper from the phonebook. I stepped between two stands of jewelry so I was partially hidden from the crowd of passer-by. I pulled out the Beretta 92 and watched as I racked the slide to make sure one of the bullets went into the chamber.

"What are you doing? You're just gonna start shooting him up?" Will asked in a feverish whisper.

"Only if he doesn't cooperate." I said with a smile, putting the gun back in my waistband.

Will looked flabbergasted as I rounded the corner and opened the door to the shop. It was crowded with a lot of Chinese figurines on wooden shelves and old Chinese movie posters on the walls.

"Welcome, welcome. What can I be of assistance with?" A middle aged man asked with a thick Mandarin accent, coming through the stacks.

I smiled at him and bowed at the waist, hoping I could remember my Mandarin. "Salve. Meum nomen Karsen. Hoc mea amicitia, William." Hello. My name is Karsen. This is my friend, William. I spoke to him in Latin so that he'd know my meaning for being here.

He looked slightly taken back, but returned my bow. "Placuit ut dignum vos. Quid vis ut faciam tibi?" Pleased to meet you. What can I do for you?

"Ego quaerere nam goofer pulvis." I told him in Latin, showing that I was interested in the goofer dust.

"Ahhh." He said loudly with a smile. "Inferno canes."

I cringed. "Yes sir."

"You are awful young to have a deal coming to close." The man said with a smile, making the skin around his eyes crinkle.

"I'm sure I'm not the youngest person you've seen with a deal coming to close." I told him with a little smile as he moved through the sacks.

"Indeed not." He told me as I followed him.

"Since when do you speak Greek?" Will whispered behind me.

"Greek is a people. Latin is a language." I told him quietly.

"Listen to her, William. She is wise beyond the years she has left." The man said still with a smile.

"How do you know my name?" Will asked.

"I told him. It's a Mandarin custom to introduce yourselves, so you're not guessing what to call the person." I told him. "I know some of the customs, but I can't even remember my Mandarin."

"Is the goofer dust the only item you require? No salt or protective amulets?" He asked.

"Yes sir. We're good with this." I told him, reaching for my wallet.

He waved off my hand. "No charge. Your deal must've been important for you to have made it so young. A gift." He told me, handing me the paper bag that was pretty full.

I paused. I was about to decline the gift when I remembered it would offend him, by Mandarin tradition. I bowed. "Thank you very much for your kindness."

"You have a good heart full of love. Make sure to tell him that, yes?" The man smiled, bowing back.

"Oh course. Thank you." I told him, turning and gesturing to Will for us to leave.

"What was that?" Will asked when I'd closed the door.

"A business transaction." I told him, shouldering through the crowd that had grown thicker since we'd gone inside.

"You can't remember how to exercise a demon, but you can explain to him what you're after in Latin?" Will asked, stopping me.

"Yes. Because this is important." I told him.

"Exercising me wasn't important?" He asked.

I sighed heavily. "Will, of course it was important. But it was important because I didn't want your blood on my hands, not because I loved you with every fiber of my being."

Will watched me for a moment. "You should tell Henry that."

I nodded. "I plan to, as soon as I figure out a plan. I'll need your help though."

He nodded as we got to the car. "Yeah, alright. Are you going to tell me what we're up against?"

I bit my lip as I buckled myself in. "Are you going to tell Henry or Magnus?" I asked him.

"Not if you don't want me to. Doctor/patient confidentiality." He smiled.

I nodded, thinking about it for a moment. "Crowley is coming and he's sending hell hounds. Goofer dust is like salt to demons. It's a ward to keep them away." I told him.

He paused, his hand halfway to turning the key. "Hell hounds?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Hell hounds."

"That sounds bad." Will said, turning the key and backing out of the alley.

"It is. That's why I need your help." I told him sternly.


	16. Cryptic Messages are Honest Truths

I explained the plan I had to Will and how the hell hounds would be here within a day or two. Will knew the codes to get into Henry's security system and he could change them as soon as we knew when they were coming. We both agreed that if we changed the codes too early, it'd tip off Henry and he'd freak out.

I made my way down to the basement. I wanted to check the main water tank to make sure the rosary was still there. It was still sitting at the bottom of the tank, but just to make sure, I blessed it again. I went back up to the kitchen to find the bag of salt. I was half way through filling a container with it when Biggie came in.

"Last time we needed the salt, there was a ghost in Will." Biggie told me.

"Demon. Totally different." I told him.

"What are you up to?" He asked, curiously.

"If I told you, you'd try to stop me or talk me out of it. And Biggie, it just isn't happening today." I told him.

He nodded for a minute. "Trouble?"

"Nah, big guy. You're totally safe." I smiled at him as I grabbed the big container I'd filled with salt.

"And what about you?" He asked, looking down at me like he already knew.

"I'm always in trouble." I told him, ducking out of the kitchen and heading for the holding area that Will and I determined to be safe. I tucked the plastic container under a bench with the bag of Goofer dust.

Next stop was Henry's work station. I approached slowly so he had time to pick up my scent or heartbeat; something so I didn't spook him.

Henry was hard at work on the computer system when I leaned against the wall. "You just gonna stand there?"

"I came to talk." I said slowly, uneasily.

He was obviously still mad at me. "Then talk."

I made my way over to the office chair I had claimed that first night I'd been here, when we'd just talked. "I'm sorry. For everything. For hurting you and for making you love me when I knew deep down that I'd end up hurting you. I never meant for that. I just wanted to feel like I meant something to somebody before I faded out like I did last time."

Henry paused his typing before turning to me. "You thought you had to soul bond with me for you to mean something to me?"

I ducked my head and slowly nodded. "I guess… I guess I figured you just thought I was here without the necklace."

Henry moved to face me, gently putting a hand on my cheek, forcing me to look at him. "I'm sorry you felt like that; because I've cared for you since the moment I opened the front door and saw you carrying that dirty old duffle bag."

I blinked. It felt like a lifetime ago, the first time I'd been at the Sanctuary. "You did?"

He nodded. "And I saw you running down the hallway with that fear in your eyes, all I wanted to do was protect you from anything that could ever hurt you. That hasn't changed since that day."

I nuzzled my cheek into his hand. "I love you."

Henry smiled softly at me. "I know." He said, making both of us smile.

"Does that make me the Leia to your Han?" I asked.

He smirked. "Absolutely." He said, kissing me.

I smiled when he pulled back. "Good."

"I'm gonna finish up this code and then we'll go out for lunch, how about that?" He asked.

I kissed his forehead. "Sounds lovely, my space cowboy." I told him, standing up. "I'm gonna run through the shower. Come up whenever you're done."

* * *

A half hour later, I was pulling on my clothes after drying off. I pulled the towel off my head and took a deep breath, feeling the warmth seep into my lungs. I shook my head quickly back and forth, letting the heat escape. When I turned back to the mirror, my hair had dried itself completely through.

I smiled at my reflection, running my fingers through the locks.

"Neat trick." Henry said and I saw his reflection in the mirror as he propped himself against the door jamb.

"Ain't it though?" I smiled.

He smirked and I watched him come up behind me in the mirror, taking hold of my hips. He pushed my hair to the side and gently kissed my neck, sending shivers down my spine. "You look gorgeous."

"You're not too bad yourself." I smiled, leaning back to kiss him.

"Lunch?" He asked.

"Did you clear it with the Boss Lady?" I asked him.

"Will and Biggie got us covered." He smiled at me.

"Then lunch it is." I said, wrapping my arm around his.

* * *

Henry and I had been gone for maybe an hour when we got a call from Ashley, telling us to come back to the Sanctuary. So naturally, we made a twenty minute drive in seven. Henry and I raced to get out of the car. We found Biggie in the foyer, in front of one of the big windows facing the large garden.

"What is it?" I asked, thinking the worst.

Biggie simply gestured to the yard.

"What?" Henry asked.

In the lawn, directly in front of the window, someone or something had burned 'tonight you die' into the vibrant green grass.

A lump formed so suddenly in my throat, I thought I was going to choke. I knew it'd be within a few short days, but I didn't think he'd give me less than twenty-four hours' worth of notice. I felt a hole form in my chest and I was glad I'd set things up earlier.

"Has Magnus seen this?" Henry asked Biggie.

"She found it just like this. She's trying to contact other Sanctuary's to see if anyone else has gotten a similar message." Biggie told us.

"That's good. Probably just some punk kids. You wanna check the system, babe?" I asked Henry.

"Yeah, yeah sure thing." He said, heading off to the computer room.

Biggie and I just stood there staring at the glaringly dark letters in the bright grass. "This your trouble?" Biggie asked, looking down at me.

I looked up at him and knew I couldn't lie, so I just nodded.

"It'll be alright." Biggie said.

"Yeah, of course." I told him with a nod. I turned and moved away from the window. The dark letters were seared into my brain. I took a deep breath and blew it out, deciding I needed to find Will. I worked my way upstairs. I didn't grab a walkie because I didn't want Henry or Magnus to know I was looking for Will. That'd be bad enough in itself.

"Hey." Will said, as I came into his office.

"Hey. You uh, see our new lawn decoration?" I asked him shakily.

He nodded, looking up at me. "Guessing that's our sign?"

I fell into one of his chairs with a nod. "Yep. Got til midnight. Don't ask me why." I said, answering the funny look he gave me. He nodded, signing a paper in front of him. "So you're sound on the plan?" I asked him.

He nodded again. "I think so."

"Alright. And the goofer dust and salt are already there. Just make sure to put it in front of the door and the window." I told him.

"I remember." He told me, looking worried.

"What's wrong, doc?" I asked, concerned he was gonna chicken out on me.

"Will this actually work?" He asked, but I knew the real question he wasn't saying. 'Are we gonna get hurt too?'

"It'll work without a doubt, as long as you guys are out of the way." I told him firmly.

"Did you tell Henry?" Will asked and I was almost confused as to what he was talking about.

"Huh, yeah. Yeah, I did. We had a kind of Star Wars moment." I said with a smile. It was short lived as I realized the danger that was now upon us.

Will cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck. "I um…" He trailed off.

"You what, doc?" I asked, nervous.

"You should call your brothers." He told me, not looking me in the eye.

I opened and closed my mouth twice, processing. "You called Sam and Dean?" I asked.

"If I was you, I'd want to hear from my family, before…" He trailed off.

"Before what?" Ashley asked from the doorway.

"Oh nothing. Doc was talking me into taking a trip somewhere. Get outta dodge for a while." I said with a smile.

"Where ya goin'?" Ash asked, coming to sit on the arm of the other chair.

"Honestly, I haven't got that far." I smiled.

"Taking Henry?" She asked, elbowing me with a cheesy grin.

I couldn't help, but feel the dread in my stomach. "I was actually thinking about going solo, but ya know, don't say anything to Henry. We're gonna talk it over later tonight."

Will looked grim. "You wanted something Ash?" Will asked her, and I was thankful for the change of subject.

"Yeah, Henry wanted to know why your com isn't on." Ash told him.

"Hey, I'll catch you guys later, alright?" I smiled at them before standing up and leaving the room.

First thing, I went up to my room. I packed all my clothes into my duffle bag and looked around the room. I packed the old notebook into the top of the clothes and paused when I saw the new notebook. The abstract colors dancing around the cover looked like they were having a party. I choked on the wave of feelings that rushed over me. A tear slipped from my eye and I tried so hard to force the rush back.

I remembered back to the first night I'd gotten here. It was dark and I was scared, but Henry made me feel at home, even though he hadn't known me. He hadn't made me feel like a freak or like I was in danger of hurting anyone. And the next day when Magnus got back; she was inquisitive and curious about me, but never scared of me. Even Will and Ashley never acted like I'd fly off the rocker and go postal.

I clutched the notebook to my chest. I didn't want this to be over. I didn't want to miss them. And worst of all, I didn't want to go back to Hell. I didn't want to be Crowley's little play thing anymore. I sucked in a deep breath before placing the new notebook with the old one in my duffle and zipping it up.

For as long as I'd been above ground, I knew my life here would be short. Even if you forgot the part where I was a living pincushion in Hell; hunters didn't live long. Bobby was the oldest one I knew of and he wasn't even all that old.

Taking a deep breath, I made a pass through the room. I didn't want to have other people picking up my things. This way, it was all in my duffle, all contained. I nodded to myself and straightened my shoulders.

No need to let anybody else know what was going on. Will was going to help me with my plan, but even that was more than I'd wanted. I took one last glance at the room before leaving and closing the door behind me.

I was almost to the elevator when I ran into Magnus.

"Are you alright? You look a bit shaken." Magnus said in her mom voice.

"Me? Nah, I'm alright." I said with my best fake smile.

"Henry was about looking for you. You weren't carrying a com." She told me, holding one up for me to see.

"I'm sorry. I ran up to my room to grab something. Slipped my mind." I told her, taking the device from. "Thanks boss."

She nodded, watching me carefully before turning the corner.

"Henry, this is Karsen. Heard you were lookin' for me?" I said into the com.

"Hey Karsen. Come down to the computer lab." Ashley's voice came on instead of Henry's.

"Uh, yeah ok. Be there in a few." I called back before hitting the down button on the elevator. The doors opened and I stepped inside.

"Still worried?" Biggie asked.

I hadn't noticed him, which was saying something since he was a Sasquatch. "Uh, me? Nah. I got this." I said, forcing a smile.

"Are you telling Henry?" He asked.

"Telling Henry what?" I decided playing dumb was the best course of action.

"You know what." He told me, looking me hard in the eye.

"Big guy, you worry too much. Just take me at my word; I've got this." I told him, patting him on the shoulder as the elevator dinged and I stepped out, heading for the computer lab.

"Hey." Ashley said excitedly from the table next to Henry's desk. Henry himself was tapping away at code when she said something.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Sally wants to talk to you." Henry said, turning around in his swivel chair.

It took me a second to remember the mermaid's name. "Oh, cool." I said, and Ash walked with me over to her tank.

I stood there for a minute until she swam up to the heavy glass. She put her hand on the glass and motioned for me to do the same. Gently, I pressed my palm against the see through material.

_"Are you aware of the hurt your strategy will incur?"_

I took a moment to think about the answer. "I have."

_"And yet you plan to go through with it?"_

I nodded, scared my voice would betray me.

_"Your love shall suffer a great deal for your decision."_

"I'm well aware." I said.

_"If you must complete your quest, then you must know that the end is not the end; but another beginning."_

"I don't understand." I told her, searching her face for more answers.

_"You will understand when the time comes."_ And she swam off, away from the glass.

"That was mildly confusing." I told Ash.

"What'd she tell you?" Ashley asked, more excited than I'd have liked her to be.

"The end is another beginning." I said, shrugging when she gave me a funny look. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Well, Sally's never been wrong about anything. Always cryptic though." Ash said and I nodded.


	17. I Apologize for Nothing

I sat, staring at the clock. I'd been doing it since six this evening, after we'd finished dinner. It was now a little after eleven. Will had come check on me every hour on the hour since dinner. I appreciated the fact he cared for me, but it wasn't like I was going to off myself. Crowley would just bring me back to sic his hounds on me, so there was really no point.

I looked down at my cell phone, rolling it over in my hands. I must've stared at it for ten minutes before I gathered enough courage to hit the second speed dial button.

"Yeah?" I heard from the other end.

"Hey Dean. It's me." I said, smiling at his voice.

"Hey. Karsen. It's good to hear from you." He said, sounding relieved.

"Yeah, you too. I was just calling to check in." I told him.

"Oh, that's good. How are things?" He asked and I could hear the catch in his voice.

"Things are… they're not bad, actually. Henry asked me out." I said, biting my lip at how he'd handle the information.

He gave a little laugh. "Bout damn time. I was getting worried."

I laughed in relief. "Yeah, yeah. He takes his sweet time, that's for sure."

"He treating you good?" Dean asked and I could hear the concern.

"Yeah. He's the sweetest." I said with a smile.

There was a rustling and I heard Sam and Dean arguing. "Hey." Sam said.

"Hey Sam. How's it going?" I asked.

"Good, it's going good. Hey, I uh. I wanted to apologize. You know I never meant any of that stuff I said, right?" He said.

I smiled. "Yeah, Sam. I know. It's all okay, brother."

I could hear Sam's relief. "Good, that's good. I'm glad."

I glanced at the clock and my stomach dropped to my knees. Almost half past eleven. I had another half an hour before the shit hit the fan. "Sammy, you know I love you right? Like a brother." I said.

He paused, silence from the other end. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. Are you alright, Karsen?"

I laughed. I was so far from alright. "Yeah, Sammy. I just miss you guys. Hand me back to Dean for a sec?" I asked.

"Yeah, here." Sam said and more rustling.

"You alright, kid?" Dean asked, using the big brother voice.

I smiled and felt my eyes well up. "Yeah, I'm alright." I told him, clearing my throat. "I love you, Dean."

"I know. You too." He said, still sounding worried. "You want us to come back there?"

"No, I'm good. Just feeling a little home sick, I guess." I said, with a little chuckle. "Well, hey. I gotta go. Say hi to Bobby for me." I said, knowing I'd start crying if I was on the phone any longer.

"Sure thing. You take care of yourself." Dean told me.

"Yeah, alright." I said, before closing the phone and taking a deep breath. I stood up, putting the phone in the duffle bag that laid on the bed.

I shook out my shoulders and squared off. I left the room and quickly found Will in his office. "Hey, you about ready?" I asked him.

He looked up from his papers and his face morphed into this mess of worry and fear. "Yeah, I guess so." He said, setting his pen down and coming to stand next to me. "I know we never really got along well. But I don't see why you have to die."

I smiled up at him. "Don't get all mushy on me now, doc."

He nodded. "Magnus will probably be in her office. I'll get Ash and Biggie and change the codes, if you get Henry."

"Not a problem." I said, glancing at the clock. "Don't take too long."

He nodded again and we were off in our separate directions. I easily found Henry at his desk in the lab, messing with some wiring.

"Hey handsome man." I said, coming up behind him and running my hands over his shoulders.

"Hey pretty girl." He smiled up at me, stretching to kiss me.

"Come with me." I said, gently taking the wiring out of his fingers and pulling him to his feet.

"Where are we going?" He asked, effortlessly following me.

"Magnus wanted to talk to all of us, I guess." I told him, leading him to the elevator. I pushed the button and we ascended the building.

I headed down the hall when Henry pushed me against the wall. I was surprised, looking up at him. But he kissed me deeply, pressing his body against mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to my kiss.

"You're amazing." Henry murmured into my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

"Nah baby. You take the cake." I said with a smile, kissing him once more before leading him to Magnus's office. Thankfully, Will was already there with Ash and Biggie.

"Will informs us you wish to talk to all of us." Magnus said, with a stoic expression.

_Way to throw me under the bus,_ I thought.

Henry looked down at me, confused. "You said Magnus wanted to talk to us."

I nodded, squeezing his hand and shuffling my feet. "Yes, I uh. I did say that." I said, glancing at the clock. We only had ten minutes left. I sighed. "I needed you all together."

"Why?" Ashley asked, looking confused.

I cleared my throat, not sure I could go through with this.

Henry let go of my hand, making me turn to him. "What are you doing?"

I opened and closed my mouth. "There's a threat to the Sanctuary and because of that, I need to protect all of you."

"I'm not aware of any threat. Our new lawn decoration was found to be some delinquent children from Old City." Magnus informed me.

I nodded, trying to figure out how I was going to manage that. "Will and I were talking it over and we think it'd be best if we move ourselves to one of the secure holding chambers in the Shoe. Just for tonight, until this thing goes away."

"What thing?" Biggie asked.

I shrugged. Playing dumb again. "I had a dream that something bad is coming and with the thing in the lawn…" I trailed off. "I've seen this kind of thing. It's a fighter demon." I said, pulling something out of a hat.

"What is that?" Magnus asked and I looked at the clock again. Damn we were getting close.

"It's a demon that kills everything in its path. But it gives up easily. The EM fields won't phase it at all; it'll blast right through them. But if we lock ourselves and all the other abnormals up, we should be safe." I told them.

Magnus nodded. "If it's best for the Sanctuary and you're sure this demon will give up easily, then I believe we best listen to Karsen."

So with the walk down to the shoe, it was 11:59 when we rounded the corner.

"Are you sure about this?" Henry asked, looking concerned. "This doesn't have to do with your dream with the Scottish guy?"

"Of course I'm sure. I'm the hunter, remember? And no, this is totally another thing." I told him, kissing him.

Will held the gate open and gestured for everyone to get in. When Henry passed him, he dashed in and slammed the gate closed.

"Will, open the gate." Henry said, seeing me on the other side of the bars.

Henry went to the console and entered the code to open the gate, but was denied. He looked at us in fear. "Will, open the damn gate and let her in."

"I changed the codes. I needed you all down here where you'd be safe." I told them.

"No. No! Karsen, don't do this." Henry said, holding onto the cell bars.

I could feel my eyes blur as they filled with tears. I quickly wiped them away. "I have to. I can't stand any of you getting hurt." I said, looking at each of them. "Will, remember the goofer dust and the salt under the bench. Cover the door and the window. Don't leave any holes."

"No, come in here. We'll fix it. Together. Open the gate." Henry said, starting to get frantic.

I took his hand, holding onto it tightly. "This is what it means to love someone. Putting them before yourself. Because I don't care what happens to me as long you're safe."

"Don't do this!" Henry roared, his eyes morphing yellow and his teeth growing out.

"Baby, don't waste your strength. You'll just end up hurting yourself." I told him, running my hand along his cheek. I made sure this was a werewolf-proof cage. "You were always the Prince in the story."

"The servant girl never died." Henry told me.

"You can't do this! You'll die!" Ashley shouted.

"I know." I said, quickly kissing Henry before running off down the hallway. I could feel them, as soon as they hit the barrier and I heard the people behind me screaming my name, telling me to come back. I paused, not too far from the cell and slowly let the fear seep into my chest. My arms caught fire and the sprinkler system kicked on.

I ran until I reached the main foyer. I reached for my pocket knife and flicked it open. I could hear them coming across the courtyard, like a stampede of wild animals. I drew the knife across the skin on my arm and let it bleed onto the floor for a minute.

When they hit the main door, I was about knocked off my feet with fright. I only stood there another second before I took off running again, up the stairs. I figured the higher I got before they caught up to me, the better everyone else was.

By the time I got to the fourth floor, I heard them breach the front door. I could almost feel the hinges break off it. I still ran franticly up the stairs. I knew I was going to die, but that didn't mean I had to make it easy for them. I dashed to the end of the hall, hearing them thunder up the stairs behind me. I found an empty office and quickly shut the door behind me. My eyes scanned the room, finding a desk near the wall of the door.

With all my might and adrenaline, I pushed the desk in front of the door, hoping to hold them off for a few extra minutes. Standing there, heart pounding, I finally felt the pain of the cut on my arm and looked down to see my clothes splattered with my own blood. My head began to swim and I wondered briefly if I could pass out before they got to me.

I jumped as one of the hounds broke away a piece of the door, above the desk. Maybe that's why they were working so hard at the door. They wanted me to feel the pain that was coming. I moved over to the wall and slid down until I was sitting firmly on my butt.

They broke away another piece of the door and they only had a small piece left before they'd be at me. It came quicker than I thought it would. I had heard stories of the beasts, but of course, never seen them. You could only see them if they were coming for you.

There were two of them, although it sounded like more. Big and black, with glaring red eyes that could see into my soul and teeth as big as baseball bats. The first bite they tore into me was the only one I felt, making me scream out loud. After that, I knew they were tearing into me, ripping me to shreds, but I wouldn't let my body feel it.

Crowley wanted me to suffer and even as I could feel the muscles in my stomach and arm rip off the bone, I knew Henry was safe and that was all that mattered to me.

I felt the ground shake and wondered if more were coming after me. I could barely open my eyes, they felt so heavy. I could hear talking, but it was as if it was from another room in the house. I could hear it, just not clearly.

Someone lifted my head, and I saw their lips move as if they were screaming in my face, but the only word I could actually hear was "don't". Don't what, though? Don't die? I had assumed I was dead already, so I couldn't undo that.

My eyes searched for something familiar, roving the room. I paused when I saw Henry's face. He had such a handsome face. He was the one in front of me, screaming. I could nearly feel the skin and muscle torn from my throat.

I wanted to tell him how I loved him.

How much I enjoyed the time I'd been here.

How sorry I was that they had to see me like this.

But my vision was fading and everything had a kind of red haze to it.

The last thing I saw was Henry with tears running down his face.

* * *

_Red._

_Everything was red or black._

_The walls. The eyes of the monsters. The blood that seemed to never stop pouring out of my open wounds._

_I remembered the hell hounds tearing me apart. I could feel the skin peel away and the muscle ripped from the bone. I could feel every incision they made with their teeth. _

_That was the easiest part though._

_Because after Crowley had collected my soul from his dogs, he strung me up me and tortured me. Whenever I thought I was at my breaking point, Crowley came up with a new item to stab me with, or burn me with, or hit me with._

_I didn't know how long I'd been on the rack._

_If I had to have guessed, I would have said twenty years._

_The ache of being beaten and bloody faded away a long time ago though._

_Now all I felt was the exhausting fresh pain of being stabbed or cut or hit._

_And my lungs. God, my lungs burned like someone poured hell fire down my throat and forced my mouth closed._

_My pain tolerance increased over time though. It made Crowley mad that he had to keep coming up with new things to do to me to get me to scream._

_That was the only reason he kept torturing me._

_He said he liked me to scream._

_And I tried so hard to resist. I'd bite my lip until it was bleeding before the sound broke out of my lungs like it was escaping this prison._

_It made Crowley laugh how I tried to hold out on him._

_But he was persistent._

_He offered me many times to relieve me of my pain; to rid me of the burning from my screaming lungs and to stop the torture._

_But the price was too high. He wanted me to do what he did; poke and prod some poor soul, the same way he did to me._

_He got the same answer every time. _

_"Screw you." I spat out the words, receiving a hell fire covered whip across the face, or the back, or the stomach._

_The whip was the least painful thing now, even covered in hell fire that nearly melted my skin._

_I could deal with the hell fire and the whip. The stabbing, the bleeding I hate the worst. _

_Fifty years must've passed._

_Everything was still red and black._

_I still felt the pain of being here, in the pit on the rack._

_I barely felt the pain of the hooks through my arms or legs anymore. It was almost a pleasant numbness until the bleeding came again._

_And then one minute, everything was dark…_

* * *

[There it is my lovelies. What I'm deeming as the end for the moment. I'm considering a sequel. Any thoughts? Ideas? Plot bunnies I could sneak in? I only have two chapter of the second part of this and I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with it, so if you'd like to read more, please, I beg of you, message me telling me what you thought.

I much appreciate it. 3 ]


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